


A Reason to Burn

by PinguinoSentado



Series: Papergirl [6]
Category: Fallout 4
Genre: Deviates From Canon, F/F, Femslash, Romance, Spoilers, Violence
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-05-14
Updated: 2016-09-23
Packaged: 2018-06-08 07:42:20
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 30
Words: 85,007
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6845518
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/PinguinoSentado/pseuds/PinguinoSentado
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>As Piper Wright is drawn in to her last battle with the Institute, Nora must decide how much she is willing to sacrifice to save the woman she loves. Even if it means never seeing her again.</p>
<p>Follows the main plot surrounding Shaun and the Institute to completion.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Fragile

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you so much for reading. I'm almost sad that this will be the last installment in Papergirl. You've been an amazing audience and you've made writing every update an absolute pleasure. Every hit, kudos, and comment gives me new life and I am now irreparably addicted to writing.
> 
> Unfortunately, I have been rather busy lately, and I don't believe it will let up for the next few months. To that end, rather than my usual write-everything-first approach, I would like to start letting chapters trickle out for you to read and hopefully enjoy. This means longer periods between updates for you, but I like to think this way gives you a better experience. With that in mind, I want to say thank you again, and I hope you enjoy the story.

She was dead. She had to be dead. She heard the shot, saw the light.

That probably should have been her first clue. Light. Not fire. She wondered vaguely if this was the end. What did it mean for a Synth to die? Where would she go? What would she see? _Who_ would she see? There were a hundred questions she wanted to ask her creator, with the first one being ‘was it something I said?’

Someone was talking. Maybe Father had just chucked her through the teleporter and left her for the Deathclaws. She thought she could hear one snuffling about, making human sounds. Maybe it was Ghouls.

The words became clearer. Patriot. She heard that word. Over and over. She could feel herself trying to roll away into the light. That was a bad word. It meant idealism and people getting shot over feelings.

_Or freedom. What was it that Rita died for? A chance for a real life?_

Rita. That was Rita’s voice. “Patriot… grabbed her… didn’t know where to go…”

More mumbling. The other voice definitely did not sound happy. That had to be her creator. Was Rita arguing with her?

“Ann.”

Hearing her name brought some of the feeling back to her chest. She regretted it immediately. Pure, white agony shot through her veins and brightened the already blinding light in her eyes. Her throat tried to scream.

She must have said something because she felt pressure on her chest. There was a sharp jab in her arm. The world swam.

 

“Good morning.”

Ann’s eyes snapped open at the voice. It was familiar but it was not Rita. The too-bright lights sent her hands grasping at her eyes for shelter. She felt the world jerk as cold metal dug into her wrists and stopped them in their tracks.

_Oh, good. Handcuffs._

The world came back to in little bits and pieces. She was lying down. A moment later, to her great surprise, she realized she was lying down on something soft. It was a bed. A hospital bed, and her wrists were cuffed to the railings.

Squinting below the harsh glare of the light, Ann tried to work out where the voice had come from. She did not need to look far. “Des?”

Desdemona stood over her, arms crossed and surely frowning. Ann tried to focus on her face and make out more than just the shadow of an angry woman. “Good. You know who I am.”

A chair scraped over the floor and the leader of the Railroad perched beside her latest victim like an enormous carrion bird. “But I’m not the interesting one in the room,” she said, bringing her hands on to rest on the back of the chair. It was only then that Ann noticed the pistol being displayed rather prominently on her hip. “I’m not the one who popped out of thin air in the middle of someone else’s headquarters.”

Ann blinked slowly. “What are you talking about?”

“Don’t play games with me,” Desdemona’s voice was sharp as a knife. “You and that pet Synth of yours –“

“Rita,” Ann tried to sit up and yelped. The bullet wound in her chest was still red and angry. Des was giving her a strange look as Ann tried again. “Is she okay?”

“She’s alive,” Des pulled a cigarette from her jacket with deliberate, maddening slowness. “We have her a few rooms over. Nice and cozy for you.”

The predatory smile sent Ann’s heart racing. “Please. Whatever happened, it wasn’t her fault. It was me. She didn’t –“

“Save it,” Des growled through closed lips as she flicked her lighter and smoke began to curl from behind her hands . “You’re both Institute Synths. She already admitted that much and if you’re planning on bullshitting me now –“

“It’s the truth, I swear,” Ann tried to keep herself from panicking but her constant pull of the handcuffs was not helping at all. “They recalled her. She doesn’t even remember me. Please, don’t hurt her.”

There was a long, unsettling silence before Des spoke again. “We haven’t,” her frown deepened as smoke leaked between her lips. “Yet. She doesn’t seem to know much, anyway. I’d hate to have to torture her. She seems… well, it doesn’t matter what I think. I’m fighting a war out here, and the two of you are on the wrong side.”

Ann tried again to sit up as the other woman stood. “No. No, you can’t, she’s not –“

“I need information,” Des cut her off again. “Everything you know about the Institute. I want to know what it’s like inside, everything from floor plans to research projects to what they eat for breakfast. I want to know how to get in and how the fuck you managed to appear out of thin air like that. I want to know where you heard the name Patriot. And, just between you and me, I would really, really love to hear,” she took her cigarette between two fingers and pointed the burning end at Ann like a brand. “Why you look so goddamn familiar.”

If Rita’s life was not on the line, and she had not been gut-shot so very recently, Ann might have indulged in her current fantasy. It involved ripping the bars off her bed and beating the holy hell out of everyone here until they told her she was her own person. She was desperate like that.

Instead, she just sighed. “I see you’ve met.”

Her usual, angry brevity was ill-advised but old habits died hard. Des was not amused. “Yes.”

“Then you should know that you and I have actually met before. I was with Piper when she first came here. The heroic Nora that saved you from the Brotherhood? That was me.”

Des glowered, giving Ann a small measure of satisfaction. “You’re telling me that was you last night? Trinity Tower? The Prydwen?”

_The fucking what? Nora had taken down the Prydwen?_

Her face gave Desdemona the answer she was looking for. “I see. Then it seems you have something of a story to tell.”

Ann tried to sink through the bed and straight down to hell. It would be no less painful than reliving this again for the benefit of an audience and she doubted this one would be as receptive as her last. Des did not seem like the type to tell her she was a good person who had done her best. Not like Rita.

But that was why she was doing this. The girl with the smoky hair and vibrant eyes. The Synth with a soul. “All right. It’s a long story.”

Desdemona listened as Ann went through the rather tumultuous events of her very short life. It actually got a lot shorter when she was being interrogated rather than spilling her guts to a friend. With Rita, there had been the desire for acceptance, for that wide-eyed, understanding look to wash over Ann and forgive her of every sin.

Now she just wanted to get through it and see that same woman again. By the time Ann finished, Des was looking more relaxed. Apparently hearing that she had disobeyed orders and spared Piper’s life was enough to convince the Railroad’s fearless leader to keep her around. Well, that and the bits of Institute trivia floating around inside her skull.

“So,” Ann took a deep breath and looked Des in the eye. “Is that enough for you?”

Her interrogator looked satisfied if not entirely pleased. The cigarette was burning down and the room had slowly developed a thin haze from the smoke. With Desdemona no longer eyeing her like a caged Deathclaw, she was almost optimistic enough to hope they would let her use the bathroom soon.

“Yes and no,” the damnable woman shook her head. Ann made a conscious effort not to roll her eyes.

“What more do you want from me?”

“A way to win the war,” she said easily. This time Ann did roll her eyes. “But you’ve given me enough for now. My people will be in shortly to debrief you in detail. We’ll need as much information on this Relay as possible. Between you and your friend, you may have stolen enough to give us a real edge.”

The optimism nearly set Ann cackling. She would go up against the Institute with a sharp stick and a pile of rocks but that was not exactly plan A. Desdemona and her people, brave as they were, reminded Ann of a gang of Mole Rats plotting to take down a Deathclaw. Or a herd of Deathclaws. With lasers and invisibility cloaks and a whole lot of drones to do their bidding.

But she supposed crazy allies were better than none. Ann jingled the handcuffs meaningfully. “So, does that mean you’ll let me off the bed?”

“In a moment,” Des motioned to the door. “I want to make sure you don’t run away on us.”

A Railroad agent trundled off down the hall. He came back seconds later, Ann’s heart and soul in tow.

Rita looked the same way she always did: too good for the room and everyone in it. Her eyes passed over Ann, lingering on every scrape and bruise, on the handcuffs and on the wound in her chest. Ann did the same. If she found a single hair out of place, the Railroad would wish they had killed her.

“Hey,” Rita’s voice was barely more than a whisper.

Her own voice was little louder. “Rita.”

Desdemona looked from one love-struck toaster to the other. “See?” she said to both of them. “She’s all right. I’ll give you two a moment to catch up.”

Rita was already at Ann’s side, hands awkwardly resting on the bar. Ann was too much of a coward to take them in her own and just lay there like a bump on a log. She watched Des leave out of the corner of her eye. Most of her attention stayed on Rita.

“Are you all right?” Ann murmured after they left. “They didn’t hurt you did they?”

Rita smiled. “No. No, they were very kind to me,” she glanced around the room nervously, eyes never meeting Ann’s. “I think I scared them, actually, just appearing out of thin air. It was kind of fun.”

Ann had to laugh at that. Who could be scared of Rita? “I bet.”

There were so many things Ann wanted to say but all the questions lodged in her throat. Instead, she watched Rita’s hands run up and down the bar, delicately hopping the handcuffs every time they passed.

“I’m sorry,” Rita said finally. “I told them you weren’t with the Institute but they wouldn’t believe me. They kept saying they’d seen you before. Is that true?”

Her eyes lit up a little as Ann’s heart stopped beating. “Yes,” Ann choked. “Yeah, we met before.”

Rita’s little smile came back. “That must have been amazing. I’ve never been outside the Institute until now. I’m not really sure what I’m doing.”

“Neither was I,” Ann admitted a little too quickly. If she ever saw Father again, she would rip him apart with her bare hands. No one but a monster would hurt Rita the way he had. “And you’re doing great so far. You already saved me. That’s better than I did my first day out.”

Well, shooting Nora scored pretty highly compared to saving the life of a worthless, cowardly Synth in Ann’s mind, but she was not about to demean Rita’s choice.

The girl laughed quietly. “I didn’t do anything. Patriot showed me how to work the Teleporter. He told me about you. How you gave me a name,” her eyes turned bright when she said that. Ann swore she could die happy after seeing that again. “He told me that I had been Recalled because I talked to you. He said you were the only one who could help us get the Synths out. I didn’t want to believe him, but when I saw you in the hall that day…”

Ann’s heart was doing its best to shrivel up and die. Rita’s smile faded as she spoke again. “When I heard what Father was going to do to you, I…” her eyes tried to go cold but never quite made it. Even Father was not enough to spark hatred in her. “I couldn’t just leave you.”

Ann watched as those nimble little fingers fiddled with the handcuffs. “Why not?” she had to ask. She was so scared even to think about it, let alone hope for it. “Do you remember anything?”

_Do you remember me?_

Those sapphire eyes finally rose to Ann’s muddy browns. “No.”

The word stung more than Ann cared to admit, even if she had never really believed. Her gaze fell to the bed. She wanted so badly for Rita to know her the way no one else did. Rita had never hated her, never seen her as anyone but Ann. Maybe she should be grateful that Rita had ever seen her that way at all. It was more than she deserved.

Soft, careful fingers threaded their way around Ann’s clumsy ones. Ann dared to look up, to see Rita’s hopeful eyes on hers. The ghost of a smile tugged at the corner of Rita’s mouth, making the freckles move.

“But I want to.”


	2. Our Last Day

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Nora opens up to Piper about what life was like before the Vault

Diamond City always had a dream-like appeal at twilight. Piper liked to wander the streets during the quiet hours for more reasons than just sniffing out the next big story. She loved the evening haze, the smoke clouds drifting carelessly through the breeze as the butcher finished her work. It made her feel like she was home. Like she was safe.

The quiet helped. She took pleasure in the hooded lights drifting through closed windows. Behind every one, a new story was being written. In her smaller moments, she indulged in fantasies of those that lived behind those shutters. She imagined the Publick either being read in silence or being fed to the fire, her words providing a little light either way. Both images made her smile.

Piper felt small tonight and indulged. Hands in her pockets, she wandered up and down the streets, peering at each window and nodding to the empty air. The last few days had been perfect. Nora had been staying inside the wall, something both Piper and Nat had taken full advantage of. Nat had managed to dig out every board game Nora had brought home over the years and made extensive use of every single one. The only time Nora got away from her was when Piper dragged her away. The woman protested every time and Piper was forced to kick Nat out and silence Nora in the approved fashion of married couples everywhere.

The thought made Piper chuckle. She had never actually gotten around to proposing to Nora. Few people in the Wasteland did anymore since getting down on one knee usually left one vulnerable to Radroaches, Mole Rats, and feral dogs. Besides, who wanted rings anymore? Nowadays, marriage proposals would be better off if the man presented an unopened Nuka Cola.

But that was Piper, always willing to be old-fashioned for her ancient, if well-preserved, sweetheart. She had no idea where she would get a ring or how long she should wait for Nora to grieve her husband but she was confident they would work it out together. Anyway, it was not like it would change anything. They already shared a home.

The streets turned to stairs as Piper found herself hiking into the stands and toward the rim of the stadium. She allowed the thought to warm her. Nora, struck speechless in the face of Piper holding a ring. It was in the future somewhere, she just had to wait for it.

It was as her heart lifted out of her chest and her breath turned to deep sighs that she realized she was not alone. Silhouetted against the fading sun was the woman responsible for so many of Piper’s stolen breaths.

“Nora?” she called, startled to find her away from Publick Occurrences. Nat must have let her off leash for the evening. The woman had found herself a nice little cubby in the side of the stands where she could put her head back, stretch out her legs, and watch the sunset.

Nora did not turn, just lolled her head back and smiled lazily at the reporter. “Hey. You found me.”

“Nothing stays hidden forever,” Piper intoned cheerily. “What are you doing up here?”

“Oh, you know, keeping the peace,” Nora waved at a sentry farther along the rim and got a cheerful one in return. Piper was always impressed how quickly Diamond City Security had taken to Nora. Then again, she had saved them all from Super Mutants.

Piper smirked. She had also made Piper look like an idiot in public her first day here, so maybe that was the real reason everyone loved her. “Hard work,” Piper watched the guard move off in the other direction. Waving at Diamond Security had never gotten her very far, even if she did know most of them by name. “You should leave it to the professionals.”

Nora snorted and patted the ground beside her. “I know, I’m a terrible busybody, always sticking my nose places it doesn’t belong.”

“And that’s why I love you.”

Piper lowered herself onto the ground beside Nora, giving her a quick smooch before settling in. The view really was something. In the fading light, the crumbling buildings looked so dignified. A dead world in repose.

“Beautiful, isn’t it?” Nora asked, reading Piper’s mind. “I hate to say it, but it almost looks better this way.”

“We’re feeling morbid tonight, I see,” Piper nudged Nora’s shoulder playfully.

“Not like that,” the woman swatted back in annoyance. “I mean it’s… cleaner. More dignified. Like no matter how badly we screwed up, everything will still be here in the morning. Like we can try again tomorrow.”

Piper raised an eyebrow. “I like it when you get all inspirational.”

“Doesn’t happen often. Must be the company I keep these days. You wouldn’t know anything about inspiring the hopeless, now would you, Miss Wright?”

At no point in her life had anyone ever called Piper Wright an inspiration. She laughed out loud and made some offhanded remark, but in truth, it was touching. Nora had always had that effect on her, though admittedly it had started as very spiteful inspiration, only growing to the affectionate, do-anything feeling after Nora had saved her in that alley.

She was still smiling as Nora draped an arm around her and placed her lips against Piper’s temple. “You shouldn’t be so modest,” she murmured, the sound making Piper hum in ecstasy.

“I bet you say that to all the pretty girls.”

“Only when it’s true,” Nora turned her gaze back to the Commonwealth even as Piper nuzzled her head upward, shameless begging for more attention. “You’re a lot like…”

When she trailed off, Piper perked up. She tilted her head and found Nora looking flushed and uncomfortable. “What?”

“I was going to say like Nate,” Nora admitted quietly.

The remark probably should have set her on edge. Whatever she was supposed to feel at being compared to Nora’s dead husband, Piper did not feel it. All she felt was bliss. She could have taken flight. That was how Nora saw her. As someone she had promised to spend her life with.

Piper’s tongue thankfully remained grounded as the rest of her floated away. “You can talk about it. If you want, I mean. You don’t have to.”

_But please, please tell me more._

Nora’s smile made Piper swoon like a schoolgirl. Thank God she was already sitting down. “He was brave. Always put other people before him. That’s why he joined the service. He wanted to save the world, all by himself if he had to. He bitched and moaned and called it the dumbest thing he ever did, but, in the end, I think he was glad he did it.”

She paused, her eyes going far away while never moving from Piper. “That was just who he was. He wanted to be a hero.”

They had never really talked about Nate before, or about anything that had happened before Vault 111. Nora had kept it shut away, like a bad dream that kept coming back. Bits and pieces leaked out in the smallest hours of the evening or when Nora was feeling especially comfortable, but it was one story Piper had never thought she would hear.

The journalist in her started drooling while the part that was in love with Nora stared in awe. “He sounds amazing,” Piper said lamely.

Nora’s voice was wispy and warm. “He was.”

The moment was not lost on Nora. As Piper melted into her side, she took a moment to lovingly adjust the hair falling around Piper’s eyes. “Are you… You don’t have to listen to me talk about this,” she laughed nervously. “It’s pretty sad, right? I’m still talking about him like he’s…”

“No,” Piper’s own voice sounded thin and pleading as her heartstrings sang in her throat. “I’d love to hear about him.”

“You don’t have to do that for me,” Nora’s free hand now roamed around Piper’s coat, smoothing little creases here and there. “I’m okay. Really.”

“I know you are. But what happened,” Piper’s hands caught Nora’s as carefully as if she were glass. “I know it hurt. I know you’re strong enough to keep going all alone but you don’t have to. You can always talk to me. About anything.”

Piper’s eyes found Nora’s. “I’ll always be here for you.”

The smile on Nora’s face finally reached her eyes. “I know you will.”

Baring her heart for Nora earned her another slow kiss. Piper rested her head on Nora’s shoulder. “And besides,” she murmured. “I always love a good story.”

Her irreverence always managed to spark laughter from Nora. “You’re a heartless woman, Piper Wright.”

“The press has no heart,” Piper lied. “It only seeks the truth.”

That truth just happened to be the life story of a very attractive woman. Piper had always wanted to know more about her partner. Admittedly, her curiosity had started out as the natural, academic wondering about life before the bombs, but now it was something else entirely. She wanted to know everything. She wanted to hear about the time Nora scraped her knee falling off a bicycle. She wanted to hear about the day she got accepted into law school. She wanted to fill herself up with everything that made Nora who she was.

And Nate had been a huge part of that. The way Nora looked when she talked about him made Piper swoon. She had loved him so much. She still did. Sometimes Piper still worried if she had forced this on her, if she should never have kissed her that night. Maybe she had moved too fast. Maybe Nora still needed time to heal and Piper had robbed her of it.

She only worried for a moment. Nora would always love Nate, and as much as Piper loved torturing her, Nora needed to be kissed that night. They had both needed it.

Nora’s nervous laughter brought Piper back to the world. “Oh God, where do I even start?”

Piper’s heart skipped a beat. It was happening. It was really happening. She tried not to shake as Nora hemmed and hawed and drove Piper crazy from waiting.

“All right,” Nora said finally. “So way back in college, I had this friend…”

Piper listened, soaking up every word and shaking breath, every change in Nora’s eyes as she moved wistfully from happy to sad, hating to loving. Even as she listened, Piper marveled. It was nothing like their story. Nate had always been head-over-heels for Nora. And why not? Only Piper had been dumb enough to hate the woman on sight. Nate had chased her for months before Nora finally let him catch her. She was laughing as she talked about the night she let him kiss her for the first time.

The story went on. Nate followed Nora through college and across the country for law school. Then he joined the service, something that almost drove Nora out the door. But she stayed, even if her career nearly went in the toilet.

And then came Shaun.

Piper looped one arm around Nora’s waist as she talked about her missing son. Nora was nearly crying, her voice barely more than a whisper as she remembered those happier days. She talked about Sanctuary Hills and Codsworth and the horrible, paralyzing fear that came with her son eating Play-Doh. Piper had to kiss her then. She was an adorable mother.

Her story with Shaun was far too short. It was unfair how little time Nora had gotten to spend with her infant son before he was snatched away. Piper wished she could turn back time, give it all back to her, even if it meant Nate would get to kiss her goodnight. Piper would give her that. She might move into the house next door and make a habit of undressing by an open window, but in her defense, Nora deserved more than one love in her life. Piper would just be picking up the slack.

Nora’s story ended abruptly. The bombs fell. The Vault gave them shelter. A bald man with a scar entered from nowhere and, in seconds, destroyed the life Nora had so lovingly built over so many years. Piper felt afraid, then. She had never been afraid of Nora, and she knew the woman would never hurt her, but in that moment, as she talked about the man who killed Nate, her voice turned to something Piper had never heard before. And it left her terrified.

It was gone just as quickly. Nora was still looking down at the city, away to the north where Sanctuary Hills still stood. “And you know the rest,” Nora’s voice regained its loving quality as she gave Piper a squeeze. “I found Diamond City, seduced some naïve young journalist, and here we are.”

“Oh, you seduced me, is that right?” Piper asked dryly, her levity thankfully coming through on its own. What she had seen in Nora’s eyes still had on edge. Even if it was a side of Nora that only existed for one man, it was still there.

Nora did not seem to notice. “Okay, maybe there was a little two-way seduction going on.”

As Nora returned to the red-faced, bumbling woman Piper loved so much, all the fear faded. Nora had every right to hate the man that stole her family away. Piper tried to imagine what she would do to someone if they hurt Nat. It was not a side of her Piper liked to think about, but it was there, just as surely as this murderous stranger waited inside Nora. But no matter what happened, she would never turn that on Nora. It was impossible even to think about.

Piper scooted a little closer into Nora’s arms. She was finishing up a rambling discourse on what exactly seduction was but Piper’s attentions cut her short. “See? It worked, didn’t it?”

With a groan, Piper looked up from Nora’s shoulder. “That’s what I wanted you to think. I’ve got you all to myself now. Wrapped around my little finger and eating out of my hand.”

Nora laughed and shook her head and stubbornly refused to admit that she was Piper’s. Well, there was plenty of time to change that. And plenty of ways to do it. Piper was thinking over a few of the more fun ideas as Nora’s turned her full attention to Piper.

It did not happen often, not like this. Nora was a woman of singular focus. The looks she gave Piper were always loving, even when they were driving each other insane, but her mind was always working away on something else. She always had a goal in mind. Whether that was finding food for the table or keeping Piper from burning the city down around them or finding a new present for Nat in the Commonwealth, she always had something on her mind.

Now, it was just her and Piper, and the weight of that nearly floored her. All that unstoppable energy was pointed right at her. Like nothing else in the world mattered.

She nearly missed what Nora was saying. “Thanks. For hearing me out.”

“Always up for a good story,” Piper said weakly.

Nora smiled kindly. “I know. I love that about you.”

Piper tried to gather her wits without success. This was not how it was supposed to go. Nora was supposed to be the one floundering in Piper’s gaze, so desperate to please her. Piper was supposed to be the one dragging Nora along.

When Piper found herself unable to speak, Nora kept going. “Maybe that’s why I told you. I want you to know everything about me. All my stories. I want you to know… me.”

Nothing in the world enticed Piper like that. “Feeling dramatic?” she mumbled lamely.

“A little,” Nora admitted with a chuckle. “I keep thinking about what happened with the Brotherhood. About how the Institute is still out there.”

It had been on Piper’s mind, too. The great enemy of the Commonwealth was still out there, its eyes surely on the Railroad and the woman who had destroyed the Prydwen. Ever since Ann had appeared in the street so long ago, Piper had known the end was coming. The Institute had found them, found Nora. It had come so close to killing them. Both of them.

_If it hadn’t been Ann, we would both be dead right now._

The thought was an odd one but it had stopped bothering Piper. Ann was gone. In the end, she died to keep them safe. To keep Piper happy. Stranger things had happened, she supposed, but this was one worth remembering.

Piper shook herself out of her memories. Nora needed her here, now. “I know,” her lips gave Nora’s neck some attention. Piper knew where she was ticklish and she desperately wanted to see her smile. “But we’ll make it through this. I promise. Whatever happens.”

The weight of Nora’s stare came back to Piper. “I hope so,” she whispered. “But, whatever happens, I want you to know who I was. I want you to know my story.”

There was no story without Nora. Piper sat up and looked her square in the eyes. “There’s going to be more after this, you know. You’re never getting away from me.”

_I will never, never let anyone take you away from me again. I swear._

Nora’s eyes went soft. “I believe you.”

The silence stretched, comfortable but foreboding. They were both worried. Even if Piper refused to show it and Nora refused to say it, they were both afraid of the end. The Institute was coming for them. Soon.

So Piper took Nora’s hand in hers, slid her hand along Nora’s chin, drew her close, and kissed her. She would make this moment last. Every moment they had together, she would remember.

The sky turned its hazy orange and violet, fading to starlit darkness before they left, arm in arm. Nat was waiting for them when they went home, eager to give Piper more moments to remember. They laughed and talked and pretended nothing was wrong in the world. There was no on hiding in the dark corners of the world, no one looking to silence Piper Wright and the Publick.

After Nat went to sleep, Nora wordlessly climbed the stairs to their loft, Piper’s hand in hers. There they made a few more quiet memories, the only sound Piper’s fingers clutching at the sheets and tracing red lines on Nora’s skin, Nora’s lips catching hers and keeping safe every tremor in her breath. As Piper’s back arched and her chest swelled, as she was broken down and made whole again by Nora’s careful touch, she knew everything was right in the world.

She could have lived in those moments forever.

No, she could not. As much as she wished, as hard as she tried to stay their passing, still they slipped away. Dawn came as it always did, and with it, the ending they had feared.

Piper walked into Publick Occurrences and saw Nora sitting on the couch, elbows on her knees. Someone in Railroad rags stood in the corner, pretending to be invisible. No one needed to say anything. They had all known this was coming.

But Nora did speak, and when she did, the words still shocked her.

“Ann is alive.”


	3. Well, This is Awkward

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Piper visits the Railroad to see Ann for herself. Rita decides to join the fight.

Ann wondered how much it would cost to get put back in handcuffs. She wanted to try that whole scene over again, except this time act like a lunatic. No one would ever let Piper near her they saw her gnawing at the metal railings on the bed.

But then, they would never have let Rita in there, either. Maybe going insane was not the solution she was after. Running away sounded good. It had not exactly worked out the last time but hey, Rita would be there to save her.

She was still at Ann’s side, faithful and pure and devoted to the completely wrong person. She had been so careful in asking Ann for her stories about her past, like she was scared Ann would blame her for having her memory stolen away. Her personality still left Ann in awe. She was just so damn sweet.

And now she was going to meet the woman Ann had pined over for so long. Ann again searched the room for escape routes.

The Railroad had left none. Desdemona wanted Piper’s word that Ann was on their side and until then, every eye available was to be trained on the Institute runaways. As much as Ann wanted to think Piper would be thrilled to see her alive, she was still not sure how they had parted. Did they really leave as friends? Or did Piper still see her as the Synth that tried to kill Nora? And then had slept with her while pretending to be Nora. She could not have forgotten that, could she? No one was that lucky.

That did not mean Ann could not dream. Piper could walk in, smile just enough to crinkle the corners of her eyes, and tell her all was forgiven. She understood it was the Institute’s fault.

Of course I’ll help Rita. In fact, you don’t have to stay with the Railroad at all. You’ll always be welcome in Diamond City. Come over for dinner tonight. Nat misses you.

The door creaked, and Ann put away her petty fantasies.

Piper Wright was exactly as Ann remembered, right down to the tilt of her cap. She stopped just inside the door, arms folded as her eyes took in everything that Ann was. It was easy to forget exactly how deep the woman’s gaze could penetrate. It was not a pleasant realization. Feeling naked did not exactly help how horribly uncomfortable this was.

Rita, bless her heart, spoke first. “You must be Piper.”

Piper smiled politely. “I am. And you are?”

“Rita. It’s a pleasure to meet you,” Rita said pleasantly as she crossed the room to shake hands. They could have been meeting for a dinner party. The whole thing had a very surreal quality, in part because Ann had been reduced to an ugly wall painting not to be mentioned in polite company.

“I’ve heard a lot about you, Rita,” Piper said easily. “You made quite a stir, popping out of thin air like that. The whole Railroad has been talking about you.”

It sounded innocent enough but Ann knew Piper the way few others did. She heard the edge in her tone. She knew she was talking to an escaped Institute Synth. In spite of everything, Ann rolled her eyes. She loved Piper to death but she really did have a one-track mind. At least it was keeping the attention off her.

Rita blushed. “Then you probably know more about me than I do.”

“I’d love to talk to you later, if that’s all right. Escaping the Institute must have been terrifying. I’ll bet it’s quite a story.”

Surprisingly subtle for Piper. Rita smiled and kept looking embarrassed. “I’d like that.”

Ann stared at Rita as she played with her fingers and wiggled shyly while Piper smiled down at her. She never should have let Rita around Piper. Piper was commanding and intelligent and Rita was innocent and shy and putting the two of them together –

“Ann.”

Piper’s gaze was not the only thing Ann had forgotten. Her voice could still make her heart skip a beat. Or three. “Hey.”

The reply was lame but it got Piper to smile a bit. “I’m glad you’re alive.”

“Yeah, uh, I am, too,” Ann chuckled nervously. It died as soon as she saw Rita biting her lip to keep from laughing. She tried giving the girl a death glare but it lacked the teeth of a Mole Rat. Rita kept right on shaking with quiet, barely-contained mirth.

“What happened?” Piper crossed the room slowly. She looked genuinely concerned. “Why did you go back to the Institute?”

Ann had not actually worked out how to answer that question just yet. The glib answer, that a voice in the ceiling had told her to, was not exactly satisfying, but she found she had nowhere else to start.

“After you left, a man named Father started talking to me over the intercom. He said he wanted the facility intact and that we could make a deal,” Ann stared bleakly at her feet as she admitted the next part. “He promised he would help me find out who I am. What I am.”

There was another awkward pause as Ann looked up at Piper. “Why I didn’t kill you.”

As Ann spoke, she saw Piper’s gaze soften. Maybe there was something there, something more than when Ann had shot the love of her life.

Rita cleared her throat uncomfortably. “I’ll let you two be alone.”

Those deep blues caught sight of Ann before they glided out the door, reassuring her that everything would be all right. This was between her and Piper, and Rita was all right with that.

Ann also caught the protective look she shot Piper behind her back. Maybe the Railroad had been right to fear the innocent, smiling Synth. The door creaked closed behind her, leaving Piper and Ann very much alone.

“Did he have an answer?” Piper’s voice was still no more than a whisper.

“No,” Ann shook her head. “He ran his tests, but he couldn’t work it out. I thought I could just stay down there in the Institute until he worked it out, but…” her eyes returned to the door.

“You met Rita.”

“Rita found me in the halls. She,” the right word seemed to elude Ann. “Opened my eyes? I don’t know how else to say it. Until I talked to her, I had no idea how badly the other Synths were treated. I didn’t know they were so… human. They deserve better, Piper, I know it. I was an idiot not to see it sooner. Rita showed me they deserve a chance at life. They all do.”

Piper had raised her eyebrows. “Must have been one hell of a conversation.”

It really had been just the one. That was strange to think about. “She came to my room, later. She wanted to know all about the surface and what it was like living with humans,” Ann looked up sheepishly. “I told her about us.”

Piper hid the pain well but not well enough. “I’m almost afraid to ask,” she said quickly, her voice never betraying that pain and grief Ann had caused her.

Ann tried to smile. “I told her everything,” she admitted. “I thought she deserved to know the truth about me. She was amazing, Piper. After I told her everything, she said she was proud of me. I couldn’t believe it. She was proud that I had made the right choice. Like that meant something.”

Piper’s lips thinned in a sincere but brittle smile. “I know it wasn’t easy,” she said quietly. She was right, of course, but Ann knew better. She could never make it right, no matter what she did, no matter what Piper or anyone else told her.

Now it was Ann’s turn to hide her pain. “Father found out. He grabbed Rita, had her Recalled. They wiped her memory. I saw it happen. All she wanted was a life, Piper, and they killed her for it. They tried to take away everything that she was just because she wanted the right to live.”

Ann could have wept from the fury that took her just from thinking about it. She could still see Rita on the monitor, sobbing as the Coursers dragged her into that horrible room.

“I’m sorry.”

“She deserves a life, Piper. I wanted to come to the surface to get her help, but I didn’t know who to go to. I…” She paused uncomfortably. “I wanted to come to you. But I didn’t exactly think you’d open the door and invite me in. And I was dead anyway, so…”

The story came to a stuttering halt as Ann struggled to admit that she needed Piper’s help. Not that it mattered. Piper’s too-understanding tone returned. “Of course I’d help.”

Of course she would. “Thank you.” Ann watched Piper look her over. She could probably find half a dozen incriminating signs that told her without a doubt exactly what Ann had been through. It felt like she was looking right through her shirt at the bullet wound. Not wanting her thunder stolen away by her audience’s intuition, Ann forced herself on.

“Father found me first,” Ann said. “One of his Coursers got the drop on me. I should have seen it coming but I was too slow. It got me in the back. I knew that was the end. There was blood everywhere, I couldn’t get my gun. I was trying to crawl away when the Courser stopped me. He put a gun to my head, but as he was about to do it… everything went blue.”

“What happened?”

“Rita saved me,” Ann smiled. “For real, this time. She got to the Teleporter and pulled me right out from under Father’s nose. Someone named Patriot sent her here.” Piper raised an eyebrow at that. “He’s some inside agent, I guess.”

Piper’s eyes flickered bright. No doubt she had a thousand questions for that mystery man, just like she had a thousand more for poor, unsuspecting Rita. Ann really should have warned her.

“And so you ended up here,” Piper said, looking around the barren room. There was little to see, just a chair, a few buzzing lights, and the barren concrete walls.

Ann nodded bleakly. “Something about looking like someone else.”

Again Piper tried to hide her pain. “Yeah. They were more than a little surprised when I told them I knew you.”

Ann was still having a hard time coming to grips with that. She had spent so long loathing herself for what she had done to Piper. She had forgotten how forgiving Piper had been. Well, if not quite forgotten, never quite believed. The kindness of Piper Wright was never far from her mind.

“Is Nora here?” Ann had to ask.

Piper nodded and looked at the ceiling. “Probably causing trouble. I figured things would go better if it was just the two of us.”

She would hear no argument from Ann. “Thanks, Piper. I mean it.”

Piper waved away her gratitude as though it were nothing, like going up against the Institute was nothing out of the ordinary. For her, Ann supposed, that was actually true. “I’m just here for the interviews. The inside scoop on the Institute, maybe a couple questions for Rita, and you can consider it even.”

Ann tried not to roll her eyes. The woman was nothing if not persistent.

It took Ann a moment to notice the knowing smile now creeping over Piper’s face. “So. Rita.”

Ann closed her eyes and cursed the woman’s ability to read her so maddeningly well. “Rita,” she echoed, hoping her constant staring was obvious only to the seasoned reporter.

“She seems nice,” Piper let every word just ooze off her tongue, slow and smug. “Very pretty. I love the hair.”

All the blood had rushed to Ann’s head, leaving the rest of her tingly and uncomfortable. “Yeah. Yeah, she is.”

“Clearly too good for you.”

Ann found herself laughing in agreement. “You have no idea.”

Piper shook her head and smiled. “I’m happy for you. Just don’t fuck it up. She really is too sweet for you.”

The idea of Piper beating Ann senseless because she had made the girl cry just made her grin wider. But, as much as she loved it, all of this felt wrong. She felt the smile slowly fading even as she begged it to stay. Piper should have hated her. After everything that had happened, Piper should have come in here with a bat.

“Hey,” Ann said quietly. “I’m sorry. For everything. You know that, right?”

“I know,” Piper was always too kind to her. “We’ve talked about it. Remember?”

“I do, it’s just,” she started fumbling again. “Were you okay? After I left?”

The look of pain that crossed Piper’s face could have killed Ann on the spot. Just from that brief moment, that half-seen look of pain made her want to bawl like a child. “No,” Piper admitted, her voice steady and her eyes unwavering. “But I had Nora. She helped me through.”

Ann forced herself to smile. “I’m glad.”

And she was. She was happy Piper had someone she loved to pick up the pieces. It was just that she just could not shake the intense, bone-deep hatred she had for Nora. It would have been so much easier if she was anything but perfect for Piper, if Piper was anything but madly in love with her. If Ann had the slightest reason to hate her, all of this would make sense.

Well, Ann had never considered herself above petty jealousy, so maybe she had a reason after all.

“The Institute did this, Ann,” Piper said firmly. “Never forget that. They sent you to hurt Nora, just like they tried to take Rita away. We’ll stop them. I promise.”

And Ann believed her. “I know. Thanks, Piper.”

Piper smiled and passed a hand through her hair. “Okay. Time to go tell Nora. Wish me luck, huh?”

Only for Piper. “Good luck.”

 

Rita followed on Ann’s heels as they walked through the Railroad’s hideout. She had not gotten a chance to see the whole thing, but Desdemona had assured her they were safe here. An entire city block, however big that was, had been converted into a safe house for runaway Synths and the brave souls who protected them.

The same brave souls Ann now wanted to tear limb from limb. No matter how many times Rita told her, Ann still would not believe that the Railroad had actually been very accommodating of Rita’s every need. She had been given her own room, a soft bed, and the freedom to see Desdemona whenever she wanted. In hindsight, she may have abused that privilege. She had spent days pleading with the woman. Just once, she had asked so many times, she had just wanted to see Ann once.

Now once had turned into two days and Rita had every intention of making it three. As they passed between vigilant soldiers and scrambling techs, Rita inched a little closer to her hero. It was not like anyone would notice. They were escaped Synths. No one would think it was weird.

Desdemona was waiting for them near the back of the room with a large map of the Commonwealth tacked to the wall. Someone wearing overalls, goggles, and nothing in between was hopping about wildly, pointing and hollering and clearly driving everyone else insane. Rita grinned as she watched. Humans were so strange.

“Tom,” Desdemona snapped, apparently having enough of the man’s performance. “Inside voice. And for God’s sake, stop making them redraw them over and over. They’re not supposed to be exact.”

“But Des, even the slightest error in –“

Des held up one finger. “No. We have your notes on the exact position down to – can I assume the centimeter? – and I thank you for that, but please, leave my map alone.”

Chastened but undefeated, Tom pouted and wandered off toward a computer terminal. Rita, buoyant from the display of human madness, hopped along behind Ann as she stalked toward Desdemona. The display was apparently lost on her, but Ann was determined to be angry.

“Good, you’re here,” Desdemona said as Ann reached her. “I’ve been meaning to talk to you.”

Ann sighed and held out her wrists. “Fine.”

Rita tried not to laugh as Des stared, perplexed, before rolling her eyes as the gesture struck home. “I’ve already apologized for that, but you have to understand, we didn’t know who you were.”

“Escaped Synths never crossed your mind?” Ann snipped, folding her arms over her chest.

“Of course it did,” Des said patiently. “But so did infiltrators. Spies. Assassins. I saw a Synth duplicate of someone I know and trust. Yes, I saw that she had been shot and was going to die without our help, but I also saw her appear from thin air with another Institute Synth standing over her.”

Rita shrank from Des’s view. It was not an evil look, and the Railroad had never been cruel to her, but Ann stepped between them anyway. “So you had her locked up with me? How long were you going to wait before you started torturing her?”

“It’s all right,” Rita said meekly. “They really didn’t hurt me.”

Ann scowled but said nothing. Finally Des broke the silence. “For what it’s worth, I am sorry. I hope you will accept our hospitality as an apology, as well as the promise that we will always be there if you need us. We will keep you safe from the Institute, no matter what. We can get your new identities, if you’d like, as well as new faces. Once we get you outside the city, both should be enough to keep you safe.”

The words sounded strange and impossible. No one could escape the Institute.

Ann thought so, too. “I don’t want to escape. I want to fight them.”

“Good,” Des said without missing a beat. “We could always use more hands. There’re always more Synths that need help getting away.”

“No, that’s not what I mean.” Ann shook her head and took a step closer. “I don’t want to help more Synths run, I want to free them. I want to fight.”

Now Des raised an eyebrow. “Fight the Institute? Like go to war with them? And win?” An almost pitying smile crept over her face. “I’m starting to feel bad about locking you up. I think I like you.”

Before Ann could continue, Des held up a hand. “Before we even start, I wanted to talk to you about some of the things you’ve brought us.” She gave Rita an appreciative nod. “Your friend brought us quite a bit of information. We’re still sorting through it, but the majority of it is already being put to good use.”

Ann shifted, giving Rita a very pleasant look. “Oh?”

Des gestured to a nearby table strewn with papers. “This Relay of theirs is proving a very interesting discovery. Until now we had no idea how to get inside the Institute or how Patriot was getting Synths out. We had our theories, of course, but nothing like this.”

“You never imagined they were just popping out of thin air?”

Rita suppressed another chuckle as Des gave Ann a flat look. “While it certainly seemed that way, the assumption would have been insane. I’ll admit, the whole thing still seems a little… difficult to believe.”

No one argued with that. Rita had lived her whole life in the Institute and the Relay was just as foreign to her as it was to anyone else. As far as she was concerned, it worked by magic.

Ann was giving her a look. “Do you remember anything, Rita? About the Relay I mean?” she asked, her voice so careful. “I know you worked on that kind of thing a lot.”

Suddenly the center of attention, Rita shook her head. “No. Sorry, I don’t remember anything. Patriot showed me how to work the controls, that’s all.”

“That’s better than nothing,” Des said thoughtfully. “It’s no good knowing there’s a door without someone knowing how to open it. Right now, the only someone around is you.”

Her tone changed enough to prompt Ann to step in front of Rita. “You’re not dragging her into this.”

“I wasn’t –“

Rita put a hand on Ann’s shoulder. “It’s all right. I want to help.”

Ann turned around, her eyes full of worry. “I know you do, Rita, but this is dangerous.”

“Escaping from the Institute wasn’t?” she asked with a smile. Ann deflated a little at that and Rita pressed on. “You’re talking about freeing Synths. I’m a Synth. If you’re going to be fighting for my freedom, I want to help.”

The look Ann was giving her told Rita exactly how much fighting she would be doing. And Rita was all right with that. For now, anyway. If someone handed her a gun, she would probably be lucky if she did not hurt herself. Once she got better, maybe after convincing Ann to give her lessons, she could really help the Railroad.

But, until then, fighting for her freedom would consist mostly of cheering from the sidelines and hoping Ann came back in one piece. She supposed she could help out with working on the Relay too. With only a few days’ worth of memories inside her brain, she would have few distractions as she thought back to everything Patriot had taught her about the machine. It was not like she could look back on the times she had shared with Ann or the lifetime she had spent inside the Institute or even the other Synths she had met that had just wanted a chance at life. In that instant, the sheer emptiness of her head sent a shiver down her spine.

Rita watched as Ann tried to make peace with it all. As much as Rita cared about her, this was too important. She needed to do this. The Institute was torturing her friends –no, her family – and without Patriot, she would never have even known she was a victim. It had to end.

Des was nodding and giving Rita another of her looks. “All right. Welcome aboard, you two. Normally I’d put you both in the field as Tourists, but I think you’ve both earned better.” Her eyes flicked between them. “One way or another.”

Rita looked at Ann and bit her lip. This was important, but she really wanted to talk to her alone right now. Were they done here?

“Des!” the man with no shirt shouted over Rita’s shoulder, startling her so badly she yelped. “You didn’t ask about it! What if they’re already-?!”

Des rounded on him with one finger raised and her mouth already open to give him hell. “Tom, so help me, I –“ she paused, seeming to remember something, and gave Tom another withering look. “Inside. Voice.” She rounded on Ann and Rita slowly. “But he is right. I need to know how much danger we’re in here.”

“What do you mean?” Ann asked.

“You knew how to find us. You appeared right on our doorstep, in fact. So I need to know if the Institute can do that, too. I need to know if they can track you here and how long it will be before they do.”

Rita fidgeted. There were hazy, gray answers in her head. Someone had warned her about this. It must have been Patriot but for the life of her she could not remember what he had said.

And now Ann was looking at her, too. Rita tried to shrink into the floor. “I don’t know. Patriot said he could cover our tracks but they’ll have Coursers looking for us already, I know it.”

The lack of an answer seemed not to faze Des. “Well, no harm in assuming the worst, then. It seems I’ve been getting my hopes up looking through the data you’ve brought.” She turned to an aide. “Get everything ready to move. We won’t leave just yet but I want to start moving the larger gear somewhere safer.”

The boy nodded and rushed off. Tom, meanwhile, had noticed something shiny in the corner of the room and glued himself to a different computer terminal. Rita had the overwhelming desire to perch herself on his shoulder and just follow him around for a few days. What was going on in that wild mind?

As Des turned back to her adopted Synths, Rita decided she really liked being above ground. Things were more exciting up here. “All right, we still have a lot to go over and not a lot of time to do it. I want to make sure I understand everything before the Institute interrupts us so let’s start with the highlights. Tell me about Father.”


	4. So Many Broken Promises

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> After so many years in Diamond City, Piper finally has enough to take down the Mayor

Nora had always possessed a flair for the dramatic, and now seemed the perfect time to indulge herself with some moody, heroic staring into the distance. There was even a breeze to ruffle her hair and scarf. Here she was, the great hero, burdened with another evil to slay before she could pull the girl from her tower.

She had been doing this a lot, lately, first with their little chat in Diamond City’s upper stands, and now at the top of a Railroad outpost. The outpost was actually more like a warren, with dozens of hidden tunnels connecting every building for nearly a block. And they were not small diners or coffee shops. The Railroad constellation included a bank, a department store, and apartment buildings by the handful. One of the taller complexes had reopened to house escaping Synths and the roof provided an excellent view of the city.

_This whole place used to be home. A lot of homes to a lot of people._

Lovely, now she was brooding, too. Someone should really lend her a cloak and rapier.

Piper scuffed her way up the stairs and forced Nora to scrounge up at least a little of her dignity. “There you are,” she said as she reached the top. “I see you’ve developed a keen appreciation for climbing stairs.”

“Keeps the pounds off,” Nora patted her stomach cheerfully. “And I like the quiet.”

“Sure, privacy is easy to find in the clouds. All the smart people stay on the ground where their feet don’t hurt.”

Piper stumped over to where Nora was patiently waiting to roll her eyes and peered over the side. Nora smiled lazily. “A little peace and quiet is worth the sore feet, don’t you think?”

The woman looked around. There was no one else on the roof with them. Sure, there was a little gunplay to break the quiet, but this was the Commonwealth. The only thing worse than being shot at was not hearing any gunshots at all.

“What’d you tell Nat when we left?” Nora asked quietly as Piper sat down.

Piper sighed. “I lied. I told her we were chasing down a story about the Institute.”

Nora’s arm wrapped itself around Piper’s shoulders. “Doesn’t sound like a lie to me.”

“Is that what you think we’re doing here?” Piper asked. “Chasing down a story?”

No, she did not. They were not chasing the story down, they were trying to write its ending. “So Ann didn’t just stop in to say hi.”

She was not sure if that made things better or worse. If she had just popped in for a visit, Nora would feel all right shooting her in the chest, rubbing a little salt in the wound, and calling it even. But she had come with a new friend, a Synth from inside the Institute. It was not hard to guess what she wanted with the Railroad.

Piper shook her head. “She says she knows a way inside the Institute.”

Of course she did. Nora looked back toward the dead city and tried to guess which miserable corner of the world they would be marching off to next. “Is it… under Diamond City?”

“Close,” Piper admitted. “She doesn’t know where, exactly, but she says she knows how to get in.”

Nora blinked, repeating the words to herself and wondering what she was missing. “So there’s a magic, Institute door?” Or was Nora so lucky that Ann had been so badly hurt while coming and going that she no longer remembered?

“Well, yes,” Piper said, waving her hands in the air as she adopted her best magician’s voice. “They call it a Teleporter.”

It was incredibly difficult not to burst into tearful laughter. “They managed to perfect moving people across the world in an instant but they can’t do hot food or clean water?”

“Actually, the water –“

“And the Synths! Could they not send a couple up here with power drills? Diamond City could use a few more Mr Handys!”

“Diamond City is just fine!”

Nora would not be quieted. “Your roof leaks. But that’s not the point, the point is, if they’re down there fixing everything, why not come up here and help? It’s not like we’re short on problems that need solving.”

As Nora gestured expansively toward the Wasteland, Piper shook her head. “It’s the Institute, Nora. They’re evil, not helpful.”

“I can’t believe that,” Nora grumbled. When Piper’s look turned astonished, Nora rolled her eyes. “I mean, yes, they are evil, but I don’t think they sit down there and giggle about how many people they’ve snatched off the streets.”

Piper frowned. “I know a few people downstairs that might disagree with you. Unless you’ve been talking to Rita without me.”

Nora could not suppress a look of sympathy. She still hated Ann, but everyone had heard about what the Institute and this Father had done to the smiling, innocent Synth. “It’s different. The people down there are doing evil things but to them it’s all worth it. Everyone up here is living in a hole anyway, right? If the Institute doesn’t take someone, bad water will get them. Or a Mole Rat, or a Blood Bug. The way they see it, if they can throw a few thousand folks into a meat grinder now, they can save countless billions in the future.”

The look Piper was giving her needed no explanation. Nora rolled her eyes and cut the woman off before she could tear her apart. “I’m not saying I agree! I just think that’s how they feel about it.” She paused a moment, thinking her next words over carefully. “And honestly, if I believed it would work…”

“For fuck’s sake, Nora!”

“I’m sorry, but if it made a better world for you and Nat, I don’t know what I would do.”

Piper, stunned beyond the power of speech, just shook her head. Nora mumbled to herself and regretted ever opening her mouth. It was a stupid thing to say, anyway. It was not like the Institute was actually doing any good down there. Why she had to rationalize their rampant home invasions was utterly beyond her, but Nora had gone and done it anyway.

“Just forget it,” Nora said unhappily. Piper stayed quiet, giving them both a chance to think.

It was a question as old as time. What was the value of a human life, and how could anyone even begin to calculate it? Was it just as simple as a number? Two lives here meant more than one life there, no matter whose life it was? Surely it could not be that base, that trivial. Piper was worth more than all of Diamond City combined, no matter what anyone said, and Nora would fight tooth and nail to prove it.

Such enlightened arithmetic held no appeal for Nora. She had, after all, been a lawyer, not a mathematician. She instead focused on the things she knew best. She loved Piper more than anything, and that went double for Nat. She knew the Institute had threatened them and that she would do anything to keep them safe.

And there was nothing else she really needed to know. To her, Piper’s life, and the lives of those she cared about, meant more to Nora than anyone else’s. The odd, discomforting thought occurred that she would probably have fallen right in step with those Institute monsters. The finest minds in the world were all huddled together deep beneath the world trying to solve a problem only they could ever fix. This was for the greater good, the survival of an entire species.

The argument was nothing if not seductive.

“McDonough is a Synth.”

Nora found herself nodding along to a rant she had heard a million times. It was several moments before she realized it was no longer a rant, but a simple statement of fact. “What?”

Piper turned and grinned like a girl at Christmas. “McDonough, Mayor of Diamond City, is an oil-chugging, battery-powered, nuts-and-bolts-and-two-screws-loose Synthetic human being.”

“Put that in print and we can buy out the Institute instead of fighting them,” Nora quipped, still not quite willing to believe Piper’s lifelong dream had come true.

“I’m serious!” Piper grabbed Nora’s arm and shook her. “Ann said she found status reports in the Institute. He’s a SYNTH!”

With Piper’s nails digging into her arm, Nora found it increasingly difficult to ignore the woman. “All right, he’s a Synth, let go.”

Piper reluctantly freed her arm and went back to bouncing giddily up and down. “I finally have him, Nora. I have him, I have him, I have him.”

“Dear God.”

Piper was not listening. “You know he talked about me?”

“You don’t say?”

She bobbed her head gleefully. “He said I was going to blow his cover. Me. Local journalist.”

“Congratulations,” Nora sighed and tried feverishly to keep a smile off her face. Piper was adorable when she was excited. “When will you be taking his chubby ass down?”

“The very second I get back to my printing press,” Piper vowed, rubbing her hands together. “Oh, I’ve been waiting for this day. The moment that hits the streets, BAM! Diamond City Security arrests the Mayor as he tries to flee, incriminating files found on his computer, evidence hidden behind a secret bookcase in his study.”

Nora, always fond of a good, suspenseful film, let the movie script play out just the way Piper was imagining it. If she closed her eyes, she could actually see the Hollywood cast now. The film had a very Silver Shroud feel to it, but with a more harrowing story. Piper was no superhero, just a girl with a pen and a thirst for the truth. And Nora, her sweet and innocent lover, would be drawn into the mix, held hostage at the very end for Piper to come rescue.

The climactic scene, where Piper burst into the Mayor’s study and found Nora’s murdered body, was what got her to speak up. “Can’t you wait until we finish one war before starting another?”

She may as well have popped Piper in the jaw. “What?” Piper yelped. “Nora, there is a Synth in Diamond City. As the Mayor. We cannot just leave him there.”

“Yes, we can,” Nora argued. “We’re going to be fighting all his buddies once the Institute finds their two lost Synths. We’re going to have our hands full.”

“But Nat’s in Diamond City,” Piper pleaded. “And if we get rid of the Mayor, we’ll have a safe place to go if things ever get bad. We can be safe there. You can’t seriously ask me to leave him there with my little sister.”

No, Nora could not. For a brief moment, she considered walking to Diamond City herself and just shooting the bastard for the sake of convenience. “Fine.” She rolled her eyes and tried to ignore Piper’s seated victory shuffle. “But only after I get back.”

“What?”

Nora smiled wearily. Keeping up with Piper was like being tied to a treadmill that never quite stopped. The only way to survive was to nap standing up and to know when the damn thing was about to crank itself up to eleven. This was one of those moments.

“I know you can’t leave Nat there alone with him,” Nora said. “Actually, I’d feel better if you were there with her. But,” she held up a warning finger as Piper started to get giddy. “You’re not printing anything until I get back. I don’t want you taking him on alone.”

“But –“

“No,” Nora said firmly. Sometimes, you had to put your foot down. “I’m serious. If you’re going to get into a gunfight over this, I’m not letting you do it alone.”

Piper hedged and writhed and tried in vain to find a way around her words. In the end, she caved. “Okay, I’ll wait,” she grumbled before indulging in a good, long sulk.

“Good. You can head back tomorrow morning if you want. I’ll come by in the evening and we’ll get this sorted out.”

After a few more moments of happy bouncing, Piper finally heard what Nora had been saying. “Wait, what will you be doing?”

“Well, the Railroad’s been gunning for the Institute forever. I want to see what they’ve got in mind for taking the fight to them.”

The recent action against the Brotherhood had left them bloodied, but she was willing to bet the Railroad would still wage a good fight if it meant freedom for Synths everywhere. Nora had already resigned herself to being at the tip of the spear, so it would be nice to know what everyone else would be doing as she was once again haloed by bullets and bright blue flashes of deadly light.

And it was not like Piper was going to abandon the fight anytime soon. Might as well stock up on allies and Stimpacks while she could.

“You can do that anytime,” Piper whined. “Come back to Diamond City with me. We can take the Mayor down tonight and be back in time for breakfast!”

It was sorely tempting. Piper trying to prove the Mayor was a Synth had become a staple of Diamond City life. “I want to, but I think I should stay here. Just for a bit, anyway,” Nora’s voice turned serious in her worry. “This isn’t like anything we’ve done before. When the Institute comes here, once they find out we’re working with the Railroad, they’ll never stop coming after us. We’re going to war against the Institute, Pipes. I just want to make sure you get to go home at the end.”

Piper, even through her bliss, still heard Nora’s fear, and Nora loved her for that. “All right. I’ll leave in the morning. I still want you to come with me, though.”

“So do I,” Nora admitted. “I’ll try and finish up early, okay? I shouldn’t be far behind you. Maybe I’ll stay up tonight, keep Des up with questions until she throws me out.”

“I’ve taught you well,” Piper said happily as wiggled her way under Nora’s arm once more.

The rest of the evening saw the Institute and its ilk forgotten. Nora spent her hours with Piper, teasing her and talking about what they would do once this was all over. Piper had her eyes on the Publick, of course. This was not the end of her career, just the high water mark. Even as she talked about Nora moving in with her and spending their days travelling between settlements that needed help, she always made room for that damn printing press.

She left early the next morning. By how fast she was walking, Nora guessed Nat would probably still be asleep by the time she got into town. Nora watched her leave, wondering if she should have gone with her. Many were the bad feelings churning in her gut, but that was no different than normal. Piper could handle herself, and there were questions that needed answering here. If Nora was going to risk her life for these Synths, and even Ann did not deserve what happened to them in the Institute, she at least wanted to know where she would be fighting.

 

Piper sat in front of her computer terminal, fingers twitching gleefully. It was finally time. After so many long, long, _insufferably long_ years, she finally got to write the article. The one that brought Institute Synth McDonough into the light, kicking and squealing like the media pork chop he was.

“I told you so,” she sang for the millionth time. Nora was not around to hear it anymore but that was not the point. The point was, she had been _right_.

Her hands flew left and right over the keys without ever typing a single character. The moment was finally here and she did not have a single thing to say. She had imagined this article so many times over but she had never thought she would actually get to write it. What was a girl supposed to do when her life’s work was about to pay off? All the spiteful looks, the sight of the Publick being tossed in the mud or used as toilet paper, all of them would be distant memories.

She never had gotten over the toilet paper thing. Nora may have been joking that day but some of the residents really did hate her.

Piper bounced up and down in her chair. “So, Piper, what’ve ya got for us today? Well, good sir, funny you should ask! Oh, you’ll never believe it, anarchy in Diamond City, the Mayor unmasked, the kidnappings explained!”

Still flailing, her hands slapped against her thighs. “But never fear, citizens, the Publick is here! Peace and order for all! You’ve nothing to fear, good folk. Not anymore! Be brave, stand tall, and walk proudly through the streets! Your homes are safe, your families sheltered. Our Wall still stands, but does the Mayor?”

Unable to keep herself still any longer, Piper began pounding what little life remained out of the poor keyboard. “It’s okay,” she said breezily. “Nora said I couldn’t publish anything until she got back. She never said I couldn’t write it.”

Summoned by her broken promise, the door to Publick Occurrences creaked open. Piper groaned aloud. Now she had to erase everything and pretend like she had behaved for once in her life. “Nora? What are you doing back so soon?”

The damn cursor took its sweet time as it rolled lazily up one row of characters after another. She suddenly regretted not doing this by hand. It would have been much faster to ball it up and throw it out. Or burn it. Or eat it.

“Nora?” she called. “Nat? Is that you?”

It was not.

“Miss Wright,” the Mayor’s voice rumbled up the stairs, infuriating and terrifying beyond belief. Piper froze in her chair. “I’d like to have a word with you.”


	5. Close to Home

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Institute comes after Piper

Piper rolled from the chair and got to her feet without making a sound. McDonough was down in the living room, taking slow, creaking steps toward the stairs. At least the bastard was fat enough to make even the floor complain.

“And what would this be about, McDonough?” she called back, sidling up to the wall and drawing her pistol.

There was another slow, careful step. Piper peeped one eye around the corner and saw McDonough standing between her and the door, a revolver clutched in both meaty hands.

She pulled her head back just as their eyes clashed. He raised his weapon but did not fire. “What it’s always about, Piper. You and your damn paper.”

“Well, was there something in particular you’d like to talk about?” she called down the stairs. “I should remind you that anything you say may be used in a future article. But we do have an ask column, if you’d like to remain anonymous.” She thumbed the safety and smirked. “We all have a little romantic trouble from time to time.”

Another slow creak meant the Synth was taking another step deeper into Piper’s home. He was just lucky Nat was not here.

“Always got a clever remark, don’t you?” McDonough barked. “Well, it ends today! I’ve had just about enough of your snarky headlines. I’m not going out like this. I’m the Mayor!”

“You’re a Synth, McDonough! And the whole city’s going to hear about it from yours truly!”

Piper inched toward the door by her bed. She had always imagined using it to escape an Institute drone, but she had never actually expected it to happen. This was almost better than getting to write the article. She could get out, get Diamond City Security on her side, and have the Mayor all wrapped up in a bow for Nora when she got back.

The door creaked again.

Piper jumped. McDonough was not quick enough for that. She would have heard him. It had to be Nora. Oh, McDonough was fucked now.

“Piper?”

_Nat!_

Piper burst around the corner. “NAT, RUN!”

McDonough saw her coming. He saw both of them coming. Piper flew down the stairs in time to see Nat turn for the door.

She was too slow. McDonough grabbed her by the jacket and yanked her around in front of him, the barrel of the revolver pressed against her head.

Piper stopped, her own gun shaking in her hands. She had a shot. She could hit him without getting Nat. She could do it. Just pull the trigger. _Just shoot him._

McDonough was laughing. “Oh, this is too perfect. Nothing to say now, huh? Good.”

Nat was looking at Piper with tears in her eyes. “I’m sorry, Piper.”

“No,” Piper whispered. “Don’t be sorry. It’s going to be okay.”

“You shouldn’t lie to her,” the Mayor sneered. His fingers curled tighter around the trigger.

“Wait!” Piper threw her hands toward Nat in a vain effort to save her. She held her gun limply, the barrel pointed skyward in defeat. “Don’t. Please.”

“What’s that? I didn’t quite hear you,” McDonough leaned in eagerly.

Piper forced herself to say the words. “Please. Please, don’t hurt her.”

Nat winced as McDonough pressed the barrel harder against the side of her head. “It’s about damn time you started talking to me that way. Put your gun on the ground. I’d hate to have to kill both Wright sisters in one day.”

“Okay,” Piper felt her lip quivering even as her hands shook in rage. She knelt slowly, her gun as far out to the side as she could reach. “All right. Just… just don’t hurt her.”

Letting go of the weapon was the hardest thing Piper had done in her life. Every fiber of her being demanded she shoot McDonough right between his puffy eyes. She should have done it years ago. She had always known he was working with the Institute. Why had she waited so long for this?

“Good,” the Synth chortled as Piper straightened.

“Okay. No more gun,” Piper said slowly. “Now please. Please let her go. She didn’t do anything.”

“You’re right, she didn’t. It was always you,” McDonough leveled the gun at Piper. “Now you are going to tell me exactly how you found out about me. Who was it? Who told you I was a Synth?”

Piper did not hesitate. “An escaped Synth. I –“

“Don’t lie to me!” McDonough clicked the hammer back menacingly. “Tell me who sold me out!”

“You pull that trigger and Security will have you in cuffs before I hit the floor.”

“You think I’m scared of them?” he shouted, thrusting the barrel at her in anger. “And who will believe them? Who will believe the upstanding Mayor of Diamond City assaulted Piper Wright in her own home? What will they think when I tell them you went mad, attacking me because you can’t accept that I’m human?”

A truly evil sneer froze Piper’s blood as McDonough pressed the revolver back against Nat’s head. “And what about poor little Nat? How could you do it, Piper? Killing your own sister because you thought she had been replaced.”

Piper hardly recognized her own voice. “Don’t. Please, don’t. I’m begging you.”

“I’m not a monster, Miss Wright. I’m only doing what I was sent here to do.”

Nat squirmed against the bastard’s iron grip. “Piper!”

“Shut up!” McDonough shook her. Piper nearly launched herself at him. _No one_ touched Nat and lived. _No one._

Before she could, the Mayor’s eyes were back on her. “And you. You’re going to do exactly as I say. Otherwise, your sweet little sister here is going to pay for it.”

“Okay,” Piper said before Nat could scream. She could handle this. She could find a way out. She just needed time. “Okay. I’ll do anything you want, just leave her alone.”

“I believe that,” McDonough’s eyes turned evil as he looked Piper over. “I think you would do anything to keep little Natalie safe.”

Nat struggled but the Mayor was not even looking at her anymore. His eyes had strayed to Piper’s pistol. “Pick it up.”

Piper blinked, confused. Before she could speak, he shook Nat again. “I said pick it up!”

Bending slowly, Piper grabbed the gun, careful to keep her finger far away from the trigger. “All right. I’m picking it up.”

“Now,” he licked his lips as he said it. “Put the barrel against your head.”

Nat gasped and made another strangled noise of terror. Piper froze. “I don’t…”

“It’s really very simple. You couldn’t take it anymore. Everyone knows about what happened with you and Nora. And you were always the crazy one. I just happened to visit when you were losing your mind,” his grip tightened on Nat. “Thankfully, I was here in time to save the girl. And I did try so hard to talk you down.”

“No!” Nat screamed, her little legs kicking at McDonough’s.

“Nat, it’s okay,” Piper forced her voice to be calm. “Everything’s going to be fine.”

The metal was cold against her skin. She felt her hand start to shake. Nora. Nora would fix this. She would kick the door down and feed McDonough his own insides for doing this to Nat. She had to. Nora always saved her. Always.

“Tick tock, Piper,” McDonough waved the gun at her little sister. “Now, say goodbye to your little sister, or I might not be able to save her after all.”

“I’m sorry, Nat,” Piper felt the tears start to form.

_Nora. I’m so, so sorry._

McDonough screamed. Piper stared. Nat, her tiny feet flailing, had managed to stomp down on the Mayor’s foot. Howling to wake the dead, McDonough struggled to keep his gun as Nat ground her heel into his toes. He tried to grab her again but she just bit him, sinking his teeth into the monster’s meaty arm.

Piper whipped her own gun forward. She saw the shot. McDonough was reeling, Nat was ducking away to sink her teeth deeper in to the Synth’s fat hand.

She took it. Her pistol barked.

McDonough shot first.


	6. Family

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Nora rushes to the hospital to find Piper

Nora sprinted into Diamond City. No one said a word as she tore up the stairs and into the city center. No one got in her way as she flew through the streets. Only when she reached the hospital did some poor man try to stop her. She nearly killed him on the spot.

“Piper?!” Nora called over his shoulder as she slammed into him.

“Hey! Miss, it’s okay. The doctor in there is a professional. He’s going to do everything he can to keep her alive,” the man struggled to keep her from barreling inside the clinic. “But I’m going to have to ask you to calm down before you go inside.”

Nora struggled against his arms but she knew he was right. Some part of her beneath the animal now trying to tear its way through the door knew she had to calm down. The trouble was, Nora truly did not feel like listening. “I knew it,” she heard herself snarling. “I knew he was a Synth. Where is he?”

“He’s dead,” the man still would not move. “The Mayor is dead. Listen to me. I know you’re scared but she’s going to be okay. What she needs right now is someone to be there for her. Someone calm and steady and able to help her through this. She’s angry enough on her own.”

“Of course she fucking is, she –“ Nora cut herself off, swearing and indulging in a few more moments of blind hate. “Fuck. Okay. All right.”

The grip on her arms began to relax. “Are you okay?”

“Well, no,” Nora shook her head and tried to unclench her fists. “Not really.”

“I probably wouldn’t be either,” the man admitted. “But she’s going to need her as many friends in there as she can get. Okay?”

“Yeah, yeah. Okay, just please let me see her.”

After a long, unhappy pause, Nora was finally let inside the clinic. She had never actually seen the inside. A few rows of dirty-brown curtains separated what hospital beds had been scavenged over the years. Fluorescent lights in the ceiling either flickered slowly or lay dead in emulation of the poor souls below. In between those hung harsher, yellow bulbs in iron cages that gave off their own light. The whole place had the exact feeling of every hospital horror film ever made. It gave Nora the creeps.

At the far end of the room, just barely poking out from behind one of the curtains, she saw one of Piper’s boots. She very nearly started sprinting again. “Piper?”

The boot shifted but nothing happened. Nora rounded the curtain, pulling it back and wishing like hell she was somewhere else. That all three of them were somewhere else.

“Nat,” Nora rushed past Piper and to the side of the bed. The little girl lay small and still. This was all so wrong. “Is she…”

“I don’t know,” Piper said quietly. “They told me she’s going to be okay. They said the bullet just grazed her. But there was so much blood.”

Nora was furious. Looking down at Nat, at helpless, innocent little Nat, she wished Piper had not killed McDonough without letting her help. She would have beaten the man to death with her bare hands for this. “What happened?”

Piper shuddered. “He came to my home, Nor. He wanted to kill me. Then Nat walked in and he grabbed her and… I didn’t want to do it but he was going to shoot her.”

Her anger vanished in an instant, everything in her turning to pity as Piper knelt over the little girl. Nora put her arms around her and tried her best to take the pain away. “It’s okay, Piper. I’m here. We’re all here.”

She felt Piper shaking. “I’m so sorry, Nora. I didn’t want to. I didn’t want to do it.”

“Come on now, it’s all over,” Nora soothed. “Just take a deep breath. Nat’s going to be okay.”

“How do you know that?”

“Because it’s Natalie,” her words, at least, were confident, even if she did not feel it. “This is just a scratch for her. She’s tougher than this.”

“She was so brave,” Piper said into Nora’s shoulder. “You should have seen her. She fucking bit him. Stomped his fat fucking foot.”

Nora forced herself to laugh. “He messed with the wrong girl.”

“Yeah he did.”

Nora held Piper tighter. “I’m sorry, Piper. I should have been here.”

She felt Piper shaking her head. “I should have stopped him. I wasn’t fast enough. It’s my fault.”

“This is McDonough’s fault,” Nora growled. “No one else’s.”

_Just mine. I left you alone. I should have been there. This is my fault._

“I was so sure we had him. I never thought he would…” Piper looked away from Nat.

“I know,” Nora made her voice as soft as she could. “This wasn’t your fault.”

She knew it did not help. She could feel Piper blaming herself, cursing herself for not sparing Nat this pain. Even if it was not her fault, it was her sister, and nothing in the world would have hit closer to home than this. This, after Nora herself had been shot and stolen away by the Institute, after Piper had been driven from her home by the Brotherhood, after being forced so many times to tell Nat she would be back soon and never knowing if it was the truth.

“I’m so tired, Nora,” the Commonwealth’s strongest woman murmured. “I’m tired of running. I’m tired of fighting. I’m tired of seeing strangers where I should see friends. I’m tired of watching people disappear in the night. I’m so fucking tired.”

Piper did not feel tired. Even as Nora held her, she did not falter. Her knees never buckled. The strength in her arms never faded.

She pulled away from Nora’s shoulder. Her eyes had lost their shine, their warmth now gone in the wake of bitter ice. “I won’t do this again,” Piper said, her voice strange to Nora’s ears. “When my sister wakes up, the Institute will be gone. This will all be over. And we’ll be a family.”

It was not a promise. Just a fact. Another headline for the Publick.

 

A different Piper walked into the Railroad’s base of operations, one Nora had never seen before. The journalist was back in Diamond City, caring for her little sister and never leaving her side. Only the avenging angel had come here today, and she had come to gather her legions and right a world gone wrong. Of course, there were no legions here; just a few dozen boys with ripped jeans and beaten rifles. A few warriors could be seen if one looked hard enough. Glory stood in the corner, her eyes fully alive as they sensed the coming fight. Desdemona looked as tired as ever but nothing about her said defeat.

And then there was Ann. Nora tried to focus on her new best friend if only to keep herself from claiming the first Institute Synth of the war. Rita was, even to the angriest of eyes, the very picture of innocence. The way she clung to Ann was proof enough of that. As much as Nora wanted to hate her, every time she caught sight of those huge eyes, so scared and brave at the same time, she could not help herself. She just wanted to put one arm around her and whisper that everything was going to be all right.

Ann was doing just that as they entered. She did not spare Nora a look, which was probably for the best, and went right on whispering secrets. Piper gave them a little nod and went right on toward Desdemona. Both Synth’s watched her, but Nora did not miss Rita’s protective glare as she passed their little table.

As weary as Des looked, no one could have missed the hope kindling in her eyes as Piper marched across the room. “Miss Wright.”

Everyone in the room pretended to keep busy as they watched the women talk. “Desdemona,” Piper said as she approached. “I wanted to talk to you.”

“I keep an open door for you,” Des replied smoothly. “Especially now. We’ve all heard about your sister. If there is anything the Railroad can do for you, you only need ask.”

“There is,” Piper nodded her way through the condolences. She was never the type to appreciate sympathy. “I want to join the Railroad.”

The pretenders forgot themselves for a moment, looking up to watch as their idol once again joined their cause. Nora had tried to fight her on this. There would be no going back, not anymore. But Piper had not listened to a word of it. Nat had been hurt, and if anyone was going to help her take down the Institute, it was the Railroad.

Or at least what was left of it.

Desdemona got twenty years younger in a single breath. “Are you sure? We would be honored to have you among us, but this isn’t something to take lightly.”

Nora had never realized Des had such a talent for understatement. Just like she had ignored Nora, Piper went right ahead and ignored Desdemona, too. “I’m sure. The Institute needs to pay for what they’ve done. They’ve been taking people off the streets for years, they took Nora from me – they almost took Nat.”

She turned her attention on those now plainly listening. They all sensed this was a moment worth remembering. Nora recalled a bit of history long forgotten during her undergraduate career. Now this is not the end. It is not even the beginning of the end. But it is, perhaps, the end of the beginning.

“But that isn’t the worst of what they’ve done. That they tried to kill my sister is no worse than what they have done to any one of us. That they tried to kill the woman I love, that they tortured her and left her to die in the dark – that is not the worst,” Piper’s eyes fell on Ann. The Synth’s eyes went straight to the floor in shame.

But Piper’s voice was soft even in its strength. “The worst was the second life they stole.”

Ann dared to look up, meeting Piper’s eyes in terrified, hopeful silence. “They could have taken everything from me, made me love a stranger and broken my family right in front of me, but I would still have been me. The Synth, the life they sent to replace the one they stole, that was the worst. To create a life, to force it to do such horrible things, that is the worst.”

“These Synths are not evil,” Piper said, holding Ann’s gaze as tenderly as a child’s. “And they deserve a life, one that is more than a shadow. There is nothing worse the Institute can do than create these lives and take what should be innocence and decency and force it to be just as twisted and wrong as they are. That’s why we’re all here. That’s why they need to be stopped. Why they will be stopped. Because these Synths, these people, deserve a chance at a real life.”

Piper did not make speeches to rounds of applause. Her words were never met with enthusiastic cheers or pats on the back. To hear Piper speak was a deeper thing, a solemn thing, like her words were meant for more.

Her words were fire, and all they touched, all who heard them, burned with their life.

Now the Railroad had been set alight. Nora felt it, just as surely as the rest of them. This was not the end, nor was it the beginning of the end, but it was, surely, the end of the beginning.


	7. One Step Ahead

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Institute attacks the Railroad after Piper announces she is joining up. Nora finds herself faced with the man who killed her husband.

Showers of dust turned from gray to gold as the lights flickered with each concussive blast. Piper stumbled down the hallway behind Nora, passed the first dead men. She tried not to look down. Instead she listened behind her, to Ann hovering over Rita like a worried mother, protecting her from gunshots and stubbed toes in equal measure. She could hear Desdemona shouting about evacuation plans and rendezvous points as the building started to fall in around them. This was all part of the plan. Running and hiding when the Institute came knocking. What had she gotten herself in to?

Two hours. That was all that had passed since her big speech to the Railroad about fighting the Institute and doing what was right. And within two hours, the Institute had found them. Sometimes, it felt impossible, like they were just too big, too powerful to take down. All they could do was run.

_Big picture, Piper, big picture._

Nora could handle the here and now just fine. “That was quick, wasn’t it?”

Her voice had taken on the fighting quality Piper had heard too often in her life. For Nora, that meant an irritating nonchalance and dramatic, cutting sarcasm that left Piper wanting to smack her. As much as she loved the woman, she could stand to take things seriously now and again.

“Do you think their ears were burning?” Piper heard herself quip as another explosion rocked the building. Now she was egging her on? All those years together were coming back to bite her in the ass.

“They do that?” Nora asked as she turned a corner. “Hey, say something about Rita. If her ears turn red, they might be people after all.”

“We can hear you!” Ann shouted angrily as she led Rita through the hall.

“Then do something useful and feel your ears. Hot or not hot?”

Piper wanted to scream, so she did. “Would you shut up?!”

“But this is for science!” Nora whined. “If we’re going to treat them like people, we –“

A Railroad agent bulled around the next corner, knocking Nora off balance and cutting off whatever she was going to say. Piper took the moment to catch up and give the woman an unkind shove down the hall. “Not helping!”

“Sorry,” Nora groaned as she stared down the corridor. “Just trying to lighten the mood since we’re all going to be dead in a minute.”

Piper winced. She probably should have let Nora have her fun. If anyone should have been allowed a little banter before the battle, it was the woman who would be doing all the fighting. It did not matter if there were Assaultrons, Power Armor, Coursers, Sentry Bots, or even giant blimps full of soldiers; Nora would take them all on alone.

“How are you feeling, Rita?” Piper asked, hoping to make up for it now.

Rita, to Piper’s great surprise, sounded calm. “I’m fine. Just a little shaken up, that’s all.” She hesitated a moment. “And my ears were burning.”

“Ha!” Nora barked in triumph.

Piper shook her head in fond, matrimonial hatred. “Good. Just stick with Ann. She’ll get you out of here.”

“I will?” Ann asked. “And what will you be doing?”

“The same thing,” Nora grumbled. “You’re all leaving. Get out of the fighting as fast as you can. I’ll give them something to shoot at and catch up later.”

The sounds of battle flooded the next hallway. At the end, barely a dozen steps away, an enormous hole had been blown where exit doors had once stood. In the open street beyond, figures in dirty browns and blues tore through the street as bullets and laser fire swept through like a killing wind.

The four women scooted closer to the wall as Railroad medics began hauling wounded men and women out of the open. Piper huddled in behind Nora as they edged closer to the brilliant light blazing through the doorway. Nora checked her rifle. Ann unlimbered her own weapon. Piper watched, pistol in hand, as figures rushed back and forth in the street outside. Most were running west, away from the fighting and toward the edge of the city.

One of the medics, a man with a bloodied woman slung over his shoulder, pitched over like a doll as blue laser fire slammed into his chest. He dropped without a sound, dumping the still-shrieking woman into the street.

Piper bolted forward before Nora could stop her. More laser fire hissed overhead as she sprinted into the street in that hobbling, running-against-the-wind stoop that trademarked those too accustomed to being shot at. It was only a few seconds before she reached the woman’s side. She stumbled to the ground as the air crackled and popped with angry blue.

As she started hoisting the woman over her shoulder, she felt the rest of her being lifted from the ground. Piper whirled and was stunned to find Rita clutching the woman’s legs, already hauling her back toward safety. With the wounded soldier still dangling between them, Piper ran and skidded and tripped over the broken ground all the way back inside.

Nora had leaned out into the sunlight and was popping furiously at whatever looked threatening. Ann looked decidedly angry and was keeping the door clear enough for them to make it through. No sooner had the blistering sunlight been replaced by the shade of safety than a man with a medic’s armband took the bloody woman off their hands.

Piper felt herself yanked toward the wall as Nora hopped back inside. “What the fuck was that?!”

“What?” Piper snapped. “You can take on the Brotherhood all by yourself but I can’t save someone right in front of me?”

“What if you’d gotten hurt?” Nora shouted. “What if –“

The building shook again. Nora gave her a furious glare and reloaded her rifle. Behind them, she heard Rita saying something sheepish. “Sorry, I just couldn’t stand around and watch. It happened so fast.”

“You did great,” Ann said quietly. “Really. Just don’t do that again, okay? If you see something like that, call it out. I can help you next time.”

Piper looked back at Nora as they both pretended not to hear. Nora sighed and made her apology face. “Just get out of here. Let me do the stupid shit.”

“So it doesn’t matter if you die?” Piper asked as the idiot woman moved toward the door.

Nora did not waste a second. “Sure it would, so it’s a good thing I don’t plan on dying!”

With that, Nora sprinted into the street. Piper let out a screaming, growling sound of pure exasperation. That damn woman was going to get herself killed for no good reason.

Where was she even going? Nora was tearing across the street, hair flying behind her as she dipped and bobbed between bits of shelter. Crowds of Railroad soldiers milled about in the street, running and dodging and dying as Nora darted through them all.

She finally reached the far side of the street and, fully in view of the enemy, began kicking the living shit out of a pile of metal. Piper just stared. Ann swore, putting voice to Piper’s own bewildered thoughts, and started popping away at the enemy. Rita was looking around, probably to find a weapon to go join in the group stupidity. And Nora just kept kicking.

With a shower of sparks and a squeal that could be heard even across the street, Nora stumbled backward, her prize in hand. Only then did Piper realize what that melted, twisted hunk of metal had been. It was a turret, and Nora now held the barrel. A moment later, Nora was back on the pile, prying belts of ammunition out of the shattered frame. She draped them over her shoulders like heavy, bronze scarves, picked up the turret’s dismembered weapon, and started sprinting toward the fight.

Piper had seen a lot in her life, but she knew she would never forget this. Nora, stooped under the weight of bullets, plowing between hundreds of men and women running the other way under a rain of laser fire. She wore no expression, even as she stumbled and tripped and men around her were cut to pieces. On and on she ran, like the Synth that could kill her had not been made yet.

Nora, who did not plan to die today, skidded up to the rubble pile that now sheltered the desperate Railroad front line, and unlimbered her machine gun.

Someone took Piper by the arm and started dragging her down the street. “All right, come on,” Ann growled as she dragged Piper along. “There’s only so much of this I can watch.”

Piper tried to dig her heels in. “But Nora –“

“Is buying you time to run,” Ann pulled harder. “She might have a death wish but I’m not letting you follow her down to hell, understand?”

“She needs help! She’s going to die back there!”

The Synth’s iron grip refused to loosen. “She’s going to be fine. If there’s one thing I can say for that woman,” she said miserably. “It’s that she’s really hard to kill.”

Another, gentler came to rest on Piper’s back as she struggled. Rita’s voice was as calm as ever. “She’s going to be all right. She’ll be back.”

Piper found herself almost believing her. “How do you know?”

“She loves you,” Rita said with a smile. “She’ll come back because she loves you.”

 

There had been a plan when Nora had started all this. Before she had leapt on top of a smoldering car and starting taking on the Institute all by herself, she really had been going somewhere with the idea. But now, with the Railroad soldiers evacuating for safer ground to the rear and the Institute dead piling up in front of her, she really could not remember what the next stage in the plan was.

Things had slowed down when she had jumped onto the car. The Synths moved slower, their shots seemed farther away. Everything became much clearer. Just point and shoot.

The pile of Institute Synths now sparking in the road said as much, as did those dangling from upper floors and sprawled in shattered doorways. Nora’s machine gun slewed left and right, chattering in short, angry bursts. Only a few Railroad die-hards remained at Nora’s side. Even Glory had gone.

It was the Institute that kept the fight going. Every time Nora sent a Synth to the scrap heap, another flash of blue lightning would bring three more into the fight. Whoever was running the show down there had no idea what they were doing. They just kept pouring Synths into the fight without a care in the world that they were dying by the hundreds.

Suddenly she had a great deal of sympathy for Rita.

She swung her weapon around on another Synth now climbing over the bodies of his brethren. There was sympathy, yes, but not enough.

_Clickclickclick._

Nora blinked and stared at the Synth that should have died. Out of bullets. “Well,” she said easily. “This is awkward.”

The Synth leveled its rifle. Nora pitched herself backward, off the burning car and into the street with an unpleasant, graceless plop. One of those die-hards picked up the slack, poking her head above the rubble and spraying the offending robot with lead.

That was the end of the battle. Seeing their hero go sprawling into the street, the Railroad took to their heels. Those few left at the front broke and ran, practically shoving one another down in a mad rush to safety. Nora popped to her feet ran right along with them, darting through side streets and vaulting through gutted buildings as that blinding, deadly blue filled the air.

West. She just had to keep running west and everything would be all right. That was what she told herself as Institute Synths scampered through the buildings behind her. They were worse than feral dogs. As she pelted through an abandoned kitchen, she toppled a refrigerator behind her and listened to it crash as canned dog food went spilling everywhere. Nora rolled her eyes and ran. The feral dogs would probably have been distracted by the food, too.

She briefly considered tossing oil cans or screwdrivers behind her in hopes that the Synths would gobble them up like robot candy but abandoned the idea as pointless, mostly because she could not find any. Instead, she ducked her head and ran harder, losing herself in the vast maze of shattered concrete and broken glass that was the Commonwealth.

The sun dragged itself toward the horizon. Hour after hour, Nora ran and hid and lost herself in the ruins. Her pursuers kept after her well into the evening, and only after dark did Nora feel like she was putting some distance between them. She stopped near an old high school, dodging a herd of Ghouls wandering the streets and hiding in what was left of the main courtyard. She had to catch her breath.

Super Mutants had made a mess of the place. Their usual filth and piles of the unspeakable now hid in the corners. Fires crackled in a few open drums and a heap of bookshelves now hissed and sparked peacefully as it lit up the night. Nora sheltered just outside the ring of orange light, her back against a toppled wall.

She heard scuffling in the distance. With any luck, it would be the Feral Ghouls picking through the surrounding buildings. Nora tried to slow her heart and get her breath back faster. She could not say here long.

A voice carried over the yard. Nora’s heart stopped. Her breathing stopped. Everything went cold and sharp and clear as winter ice.

“Well, well, well. If it isn’t my old friend, the frozen TV dinner.”

Nora heard the sound of boots crunching rubble. She knew that voice anywhere. Without a sound, she got to her feet. She was not tired anymore. She was not even angry.

She was just very, very cold.

“You made a bad enemy, takin’ on the Institute,” the man continued as he sauntered toward Nora’s cover. “Looks like you bit off a little more than you can chew. Wouldn’t believe how many times I did that when I was just startin’ out. But you did alright, didn’t ya? Took on the whole Brotherhood! Damn, if that wasn’t a good show.”

The harsh glint of a revolver in the firelight let Nora follow him through the darkness. She watched, and she waited.

“Ah, but you’re just a little pawn on a really big board. Sometimes I think I am, too. But that’s not for us to know, is it, little pawn? We’re supposed to do what we’re told, move to this square or that, take this kid…” he grinned wolfishly. “Kill that man. It didn’t have to go down like that, you know. He could have just given me the kid.”

The light finally revealed the bald head, the scar, and the dead eyes that Nora would never forget. She watched as she walked right up to her wall, gun at his side like nothing could touch him.

“Just like it doesn’t have to go down like this,” he said quietly. “We could both just walk away. But I don’t think you will. I’ve seen you in a fight before. You’ll be a tough one.” He took one step around the corner and raised his pistol. “But I’m tougher.”

He raised his gun and stepped around the corner in a flash. But Nora was gone. He blinked, staring at the empty air in front of him.

Nora raised herself up from the shadows behind him. She watched as someone else lifted her gun and pointed it at his knees. She did not feel anything as she went to work. No anger, no regret, no sense of justice.

Just cold. Empty, broken, and cold.


	8. Where the Winners Sit

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Piper, Ann, and Rita regroup with the Railroad

In the Commonwealth, trying to kill someone was as normal as saying good morning. It was how people greeted each other on the street. It happened for no reason at all. It was just the way things were. Everyone here was a murderous, bloodthirsty thug.

At least, that was what the Institute had said. Every Synth knew how terrible things were up here. Every Synth knew better than to come looking. They should just be thankful that they lived in the Institute, that they had such state-of-the-art facilities to keep the Ghouls and the radiation out, and never mind those Coursers with the power of life and death over you. Never mind that they could do whatever they wanted to you, whenever they wanted and wipe your memory after.

Rita shivered and edged closer to Ann. Her knight in shining armor, even when no one remembered her name. She had an odd look on her face as Rita settled in beside her. A dozen emotions at once all tried to express themselves through different parts of her. Her hands were restless. She had wanted to fight the Institute with Nora and the rest. Her mouth twisted in a sickly frustration that she could not bring herself to voice. Her eyes followed Piper as she did her own pacing. Ann watched the woman a lot. This time it was more thoughtful and less fearful, less self-loathing. She blamed herself for everything that had gone wrong in everyone’s life.

Rita still had not figured out how to take that pain away from her. Could she really not see how brave she was? As Rita had scooted closer, she had opened up a little, letting Rita in where no one else could go. It only happened when she was distracted. Even when it was just the two of them, Ann put her walls up and hid. She was almost afraid of letting someone get close, even if she wanted to.

Ann was so many things to so many people. She had been through so much and to have told a stranger everything, to have been so open and honest with someone like Rita, only to have it all ripped away was another pain Rita wished she could take away.

Piper, on the other hand, was only feeling one thing right now, and it was painfully obvious to everyone who saw her. Nora was still out there and it was all Piper’s fault. She should have gone with her, should have taken on the whole Institute herself so Nora did not have to. The whole war was her fault and Nora was the one doing all the fighting.

Rita could have watched for hours. In so many ways, the two women were perfect for each other and, if Rita had not seen Piper together with Nora, she would have assumed they were supposed to end up together. Which would have been more than a little disappointing. Rita liked Ann. A lot. She liked being the only one who could sit this close to her without making her want to run away.

“Hey,” Rita said, nudging Ann with her shoulder. “You shouldn’t be so hard on yourself.”

Ann turned to Rita, somehow shocked that anyone would care what she was going through. “What are you talking about?”

“You’re wondering if you should have stayed,” Rita said quietly, doing her best not to spook the poor woman. “But you helped everyone escape. You got us all here safely.”

There should have been a better way to communicate between Synths. Rita should have been able to just shoot her thoughts into Ann’s brain and tell her in clear and unmistakable terms exactly how perfect she was. It would have been easier than fumbling around with these horribly unwieldy things called words. Only Piper seemed to be able to master them. It was no wonder Ann had fallen for her.

“I could have done more,” Ann muttered, determined for everything bad to be her fault. “Nora did. She was out there before I could even blink.”

“So what?”

Rita could not have surprised Ann more if she had slapped her across the face. She blinked and stared and for a moment forgot all about hating herself. Well, it was a start. “I –“

“You did exactly what you were supposed to do,” Rita said firmly. “You kept everyone together after we ran away. You kept Piper safe, just like you were supposed to.”

She paused, smiling shyly. “And me. You kept me safe. Like you always do.”

It was what Ann needed to hear. That it was the truth just made it easier for Rita to say, and that it was obvious made it so funny that Ann could not see it. This was who she was, what she did. She kept people safe. Even if they hated her.

Ann started to turn red as her mind tried to wrap itself around what surely could not have been an actual compliment. No one could love her. She was evil.

Rita, trying to be as brave as Ann, put a hand on her savior’s leg. “You don’t think I stopped you in that hallway just because you were pretty, do you?”

It was something she hardly remembered at all. A fuzzy, gray dream that had happened to someone else was all that remained of the first time she had gotten up the courage to talk to the Synth so wildly different from all the others.

“You,” Ann stammered, her eyes widening with a hope that made Rita feel like she could fly. “You remember that?”

“A little,” Rita smiled as she thought about it. “Just the start. I saw you walking down the hall toward me. I’d seen you around and I’d wanted to talk to you but never got up the courage to say anything. When I saw you coming, I panicked. I got so scared I opened up the wall and hid in it.”

The admission left Ann stunned for a moment. Then, music. A wild, happy grin chased away all the fear and doubt that ruled Ann’s face and finally let her laugh. “You’re making that up.”

“Nope,” Rita shook her head as she felt heat rushing to her face. “I had my tools with me and I saw you coming down the hall. I didn’t want to turn around and run because that would have been really weird, so… pop.”

She mimed opening up the wall panel. Ann broke into another fit of sniggering laughter. “Why? Why didn’t you just talk to me?”

“You were from the surface! You were a Synth they treated like a person. I was… nobody,” Rita tried not to let her own lack of identity depress her. “Just another Synth.”

The laughter died on Ann’s face. Rita tried furiously to think of something else she could say to bring it back. She already missed it. She was suffocating without it.

But Ann was there for her. When the laughter faded, the self-loathing did not come back. No fear or pain covered her face. The guilt she always tried to hide was gone. “You were Rita,” she said quietly. “I wish you could remember how much you did for me. You made me realize I was wrong about so many things. Before you, I thought I was the only Synth who deserved a life. I didn’t know how bad it was for them. How beautiful and alive they could be.”

_Wow. So the thought-sending thing worked. Really well._

Rita felt her lips moving but nothing was coming out. She was supposed to be saying something. This should have been easy. She just had to say something wonderful and clever that perfectly conveyed how much she admired and loved Ann, not just for saving her but for having the courage to even try.

It was Piper who saved Rita this time. “Nora!”

Everyone looked to see Nora come striding through the front door. She looked tired, beaten, and bloodied, but the look she gave Piper was so happy and loving she probably would have gone through it all again. Piper went streaking across the room to slam giddily into the poor woman, nearly knocking her to the floor.

Nora’s voice did not match the grin that split her face. “Okay, okay. No press, please.”

Piper, thrilled beyond words that the love of her life was still with her, chose to express this in violence. “You don’t get to say no press,” she said as she flailed at Nora. “The press was so worried about you, it nearly had a heart attack.”

“All right, sorry, just – ow – stop hitting me,” Nora’s grin faded in the wake of a pained wince.

The shift was instantaneous. Piper went from angry, worried girlfriend to angry, worried mother. Her touch became softer as she searched every inch of Nora’s body for the slightest scratch or scrape. “This is what you get for taking on the Institute by yourself. I told you not… what’s wrong?”

Rita looked back to Nora’s face. She could not see anything there, not really. Just love for Piper, pain from the fighting, relief for being back with the woman she loved. Only when Piper asked did Rita notice Nora’s expression flicker. She had not seen it before, but of course Piper could.

She was afraid. “I saw him,” Nora said quietly. “The man who took Shaun.”

Piper stiffened. She drew back with a low gasp. “What?”

Even Ann was sitting up and paying attention. Nora shook her head. “He was with the Institute. He found me during the battle and…” that look of fear passed over her face again. “I killed him.”

Rita kept watching, studying Nora’s face and watching for more clues. Why was she afraid? Whoever she was talking about was dead. Rita had no idea who Shaun was but she guessed it was someone very important to Nora. Piper had seen the fear, too, and put her hand on Nora’s arm. “Good. Bastard had it coming.”

Nora nodded but her heart was not in it. Piper did not look totally convinced either. That fear that had washed over Nora was now taking hold of Piper. It was a terribly unfair thing.

“No, I know that,” Nora’s voice had begun to fade and Rita strained to hear the rest. “I just… I didn’t just kill him. I hurt him.”

Fear turned to terror as her eyes went far away. She was watching it all again, even Rita could see that.

But so could Piper. She was there in a heartbeat, holding Nora to her chest and telling her “It’s all right. You’re all right. Whatever you did, it wasn’t your fault. Okay? I’ll be here whenever you want to talk about it, but I need you to know it’s okay. You didn’t do anything wrong. I know you wouldn’t. I know you.”

The words took the worst of the edge away. At least Nora looked like she could stand again. With a small nod and the most loving, I-don’t-deserve-you look Rita had ever seen, Nora gave Piper a brief touch on the arm and went to clear her head in one of the corners. And Piper let her go. To Rita, it made no sense at all, but it must have been the right thing to do. They loved each other so much.

Piper’s eyes settled on Ann, flicking to Rita for just a moment before the journalist started toward them. Well, journalist-turned-general. Rita had only been around the Railroad for a few days but even she could see how much Piper Wright meant to them. And with people like Desdemona and Glory lost in the Wasteland, everyone left would follow Piper wherever it was she chose to lead them.

Ann sat up a little straighter. Seeing Nora always brought out the worst in her. “Is she okay?”

The question startled Rita almost as much as it did Piper. It took a moment for her to answer. “She will be. You didn’t know about Shaun?”

Now Ann got uncomfortable. “I did, actually.”

Piper looked over her shoulder. Nora had found a quiet corner to sit down and be alone for a few minutes. Some kind soul had even lent her a canteen. “Better not tell her that,” Piper said in a low voice. “She has enough going on.”

Ann always was better than she gave herself credit for. She nodded easily, like she never would have said anything in the first place. Rita smiled at that. Even at her worst, she was still more human than most actual humans.

“So,” Piper sighed and looked around the room for emphasis. “What now?”

Rita looked around, too. “Do you think the Institute will find us here?”

It was not a real question but Rita did not regret asking it, not when Ann moved a little closer to protect her. “Probably, the question is, how long do we have before they do?”

“Well, let’s not wait around to find out,” Piper said, her voice already taking on the authority of a leader. “We can’t just sit here and wait for it to happen. We need to get ahead of them, find a place they won’t think to look or keep them chasing their tails while we find a way inside.”

Ann spoke up carefully. “Tinker Tom is down here somewhere. He said he needed some decent space outdoors in order to get everything working.” When Piper raised an eyebrow, Ann just shrugged. “There’s antennas involved, right?”

Apparently that satisfied Piper. Rita fidgeted before speaking up. “Actually, he’ll need a small transmitting tower. The best way would be to catch the signal and bounce it back using a small radar dish.”

Both sets of eyes fixed on the hapless Synth. More fidgeting ensued. “Most of my programming was for electrical work,” she said, trying as hard as she could to put the floor between herself and Piper’s gaze. “I don’t really know much of anything. I shouldn’t have said anything. Sorry.”

Ann’s hand was on her shoulder before she had finished speaking. “You’re right. Leave it to all the other trained electricians and scientist folks we picked up on the road.”

Piper chuckled. “Maybe she shouldn’t have said anything. Once Tom finds out you know which end of the battery is which, Ann here might never get to see you again.”

That was a very uncomfortable thought. And when had Ann gotten so close? Had Rita moved or was Ann that protective of her?

“Anyway,” Piper said after a moment. “It sounds like we need a space to hide. Somewhere outdoors, abandoned, somewhere we could build this Relay dish interception thing and no one would notice. Which sounds hard because it sounds really big.”

“Not that big,” Rita said, again trying to make her head explode from embarrassment. “Maybe… five feet across? I don’t know, I’m just guessing. And there’s other things to… um…”

“Quit showing off,” Ann gave her a light shove.

“Okay, we’ll talk to Tom about the details,” Piper said with a fond smile that made Rita turn even redder. “But for now, it’s quiet, open, abandoned. Any ideas?”

No one spoke. Rita was useless here. This was her first time above ground and everything looked the same. Abandoned would be easy enough, but open and quiet? Those were two things she had not seen. And it would need to be out of the way enough to be hidden from prying Institute eyes.

“Sanctuary.”

Piper spun on her heel to find Nora standing a few feet away. She looked absolutely miserable, like the name itself should have turned the sky black. Piper spoke hesitantly. “You sure, Nora?”

Nora nodded slowly. “Yeah. It works, doesn’t it? It was abandoned when I… passed through,” she cleared her throat and looked around awkwardly. “Look, it’ll work. It has the space we need. And nobody will be looking for us there. It’s perfect.”

More wordless conversation passed between them. Piper asked her if she was sure, her eyes filling with concern. Nora stood tall and brave against whatever it was that Sanctuary held for her. This was what they needed to do, so she would be there until the end.

Piper nodded in silent support and looked back toward Rita. “Okay. Let’s get you introduced to your new best friend. I want to get out of here before the Institute gets here.”

“Shouldn’t we wait a little longer?” Ann asked. “Des and Glory still aren’t here. They could have fallen behind or just had trouble with the Institute.”

Nora frowned. “As much as I hate to agree, it’s right.”

“She.”

If looks could kill, Rita would have been dead before she hit the floor. Nora’s eyes flashed and stabbed as she worked through her surprise. But Rita refused to back down. This was too important. Ann deserved better than this, no matter who she had shot.

Nora blinked first. “Right. She. Sorry.”

“Okay,” Piper said, pointedly stepping between Nora and Ann. “We’ll wait another day. But if the Institute shows up before then, I think we should leave.”

No one disagreed, although Ann was too busy staring at Rita, which meant Rita was too busy trying not to stare back. It was really awkward. Nora gave Rita another look before walking away. She liked to think it was a look of respect, but really she had no idea.

Piper’s look was much easier. “Okay,” she said wearily. “Time to go sort out this mess.” She turned to leave and offered Rita another smile. Suddenly the room felt very warm. “Come on, now. I haven’t forgotten about you.”

As Rita stood to follow Piper, Ann spoke softly. “Thanks. You didn’t have to do that for me.”

“Of course I did. You deserved it,” Rita said. If there was anything that made her brave, it was Ann. She deserved better than being shoved into the corner and forgotten, stripped of her identity and even of her gender. She was more than just the Synth who had shot Nora. She was the Synth who was going to take down the Institute, save the Commonwealth, and finally give her people a voice.

 

Nora found a nice, dark corner to wallow in while Piper ran the war all by herself. She should have been out there helping, but her hands felt like they were still covered in blood. They still looked red. Every time she washed them, all she saw was more blood she could never get off.

“This is insane,” she said as she stared at them. “You’ve killed people before. A lot of people.”

It was not exactly a helpful line of thinking, so she tried again. “He deserved it. He killed Nate. And he took Shaun. You had to do it. He had to die.”

_He did. He had to die. But it didn’t have to be slow._

The thought of what she had done nearly sent her vomiting. She had not been cruel to Machson and he had tortured her for weeks. She still had nightmares about the things he had done to her, things she would never, ever tell Piper. Things that still kept her awake.

But Kellog. What she had done to him was brutal. Barbaric. Inhuman. It was disgusting and vile and base and… and how could she look at Piper anymore? How could she ever be around her again? 

“Nora?”

Piper’s voice was always so soft, too gentle and sweet for someone like Nora. Nora did not turn around. “Hey.”

“You looked like you could use some company,” Piper said, tender and timid and always there when Nora needed her.

Nora shook her head. “It’s all right, Piper. I’m fine. I just need some time. I think the Railroad needs you more than I do right now.”

“The Railroad got along just fine before I came along,” Piper said, coming closer. “Not like someone I know. Come on. You can tell me anything.”

“Looking for your next story?” Nora tried to joke.

“The press is taking some time off,” Piper said as she settled in beside her. “I’m on bereavement.”

Nora winced. Here she was feeling sorry for herself while Nat was still in the hospital. And Piper could not even get out to see her. “It’s not bereavement,” Nora said, trying to snap herself out of her own depressive haze. “She’ll be up and about by the time we’re home.”

“And she’ll be waking up in that hospital all alone,” Piper sighed miserably. “Without her big sister there to tell her she’s safe.” When she caught sight of Nora’s face, she gave her a tired smile. “I know, I know. Getting rid of the Institute will be like Christmas for her. Probably. I think she actually enjoys scaring people with horror stories.”

Nora snorted. “Little hell raiser, just like her sis.”

“I’m so proud.”

There was a long silence as the two women spared a thought for the little girl. That was what all this was for, in the end. People like Nat deserved a better life. That was why Piper had started the paper and it was why Nora had spent so long wandering the Wasteland. It was not about losing someone, not really. It was about keeping the girl down the street from losing her someone.

And it was for the pretty girl with the troublemaking family, the one who made you think about getting a house and settling down, some place you could set your rifle over the fireplace and let it gather dust while you took up knitting ugly scarves. It was a strange feeling Nora had not quite come to terms with. Ever since leaving the Vault, since she had first seen the ruins of Sanctuary, a quiet yet unstoppable force had been building within her. She had to fix all this. Every building had to be made whole again, every living soul taught about the wonders of central air conditioning and indoor plumbing.

But Piper made her want to be selfish. She knew she could never do that, certainly not alone and probably not even with all the helping hands to be found in the Commonwealth. Maybe it was enough to pave the road and point others along the path. Stopping the Institute was no small feat. If things went right, maybe they would come out of this with a safe place to call their home and the technology to make tomorrow brighter than anyone could even imagine. Maybe, just maybe, that would be enough. She could have Piper, then, all to herself. No doors to kick down. No corrupt Mayors to topple. Just Piper and Blue.

Nora had to smile. She wanted nothing more than to settle down with the two of them, put tacky pictures of the three of them up on the mantelpiece while generally driving Piper insane. It sounded like a dream. Surely the world was too broken for that.

Nowhere in this world, full of Deathclaws and mutants and robots with souls, was there room for a happy ending. All Nora had to do was look around to see that as plain as day. This used to be a break room, she thought. Now the table was shattered, the chairs piled up the corner. There was blood on one of the walls, so much that it almost obscured the motivational poster hanging in tatters from a very tenacious thumbtack. In a place like this, at war with something as terrible as the Institute, the winners were not the ones sitting in the dark on top of a toppled refrigerator.

Of course, Nora had made herself famous cheating death. What was one more magic trick?

“You don’t have to talk about it,” Piper said quietly. “Whatever happened, I know he deserved it.”

Nora shivered. She wanted to talk about it. She wanted it to all go away and she knew that Piper could do that for her. That was what Piper did.

But she just could not make herself speak. Piper could never see that side of her. Not ever. What had happened to Kellog had to stay buried. She had to stay strong. She had to be there for Piper, no matter what it took. Piper was all that mattered. Piper and Nat and the happy family that murderous, horrible Nora did not deserve and could never keep. It was enough to tear her apart. This was why she had told Piper everything that night. She had opened up, leaving her past behind so that she could share a future with the woman she loved.

She made it look so easy. No matter what happened, Piper was always there, pen in hand, ready to take on the world. There was no darkness behind those eyes. Even when she had lost her father, she had not been reduced to cold-blooded murder. There were no skeletons in her closet. She was too good for Nora.

But Nora would never, ever let her go.

With a groan, she shoved herself off the fridge and offered a hand to the perfect girl beside her. “Come on. You’ve got more important things to do than sit here in the dark.”

Piper took her hand but stood on her own. She had noticed Nora’s grimace. “Are you all right?”

“Just a graze or two,” Nora lied. Her legs had actually taken a beating during the battle. Just like old times. “I’ll walk it off.”

“Still scared of having me patch you up?” Piper asked, her eyes sparkling as she thought back to the same moment. They had come a long way since brawling with Super Mutants in Diamond City.

“Can you blame me?” Nora laughed.

Piper shook her head and helped Nora out of the room. “I thought I told you. I’d never forgive myself if you died.”

“And you weren’t the one to kill me?”

Her eyes glowed amber and gold in the dim light. “Damn right.”


	9. The Hardest Words to Say

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Nora tries to forgive, even if she can't quite forget

Nora leaned over the table and studied the bleak markings. “I don’t understand.”

“The Institute,” Des said wearily. “Is everywhere.”

That was plain enough from the map. The two of them studied the map laid out before them in the vain hope that they had missed something. They had not, and Nora was forced to acknowledge that Des’s summary was painfully accurate. “How? How are they doing it?”

Des laughed at that. “Who’s going to stop them? They can go anywhere with that Relay of theirs. In and out without having to fight through Ghouls, Mutants, or Raiders.” She shook her head. “Cheating bastards.”

Nora hung her head. “I know. I just,” she sighed, then repeated herself. “I just don’t understand. Why haven’t they done this before?”

“Well, there was the Brotherhood,” Des admitted unhappily. “Those Vertibirds probably gave them hell more times than we ever did. And of course, they were trying to root us out, so they had their hands full there.” She paused, trailing off for a moment before shaking her head again. “But we’ve never seen anything like this before. The numbers you faced in that assault were unlike anything they’ve thrown at us before. There has to be something they’re after, now.”

“Maybe they finally decided to take over the Commonwealth.”

“Don’t joke,” Des groaned. “Because right now I can’t think of anyone who could stop them.”

It was not a pleasant thought. The sound of metallic boots tramping through Diamond City’s streets, the kidnappings gone in favor of mass deportations. The Commonwealth was a lousy place even without them in charge. She could just imagine as the first Synth Deathclaws rolled off the line to keep order among the human cattle.

Nora furrowed her brow, trying in vain to remember what movie she was thinking of. “If they wanted Diamond City before, a few guys with pipe rifles wouldn’t have stopped them.”

Des nodded slowly. “With that Relay of theirs, I think you’re right. Which is something, I suppose. At least they’re not here to take over the world.”

Which left them with the disturbing, if mildly satisfying conclusion that the Institute wanted something in particular from the Railroad. Something they acquired quite recently. Something that had quite recently shot Nora in the chest.

“So, what,” she prompted. “They’re after us?”

“Could be,” Des admitted. “We’ve never exactly been friends and we just recently acquired two of their Synths, one of which I understand was quite valuable to them.”

The two looked over toward Rita. The poor girl was standing in front of a battered chalkboard now covered in the indecipherable scribbling of a madman. The madman, Tinker Tom, was standing over her shoulder, excitedly pointing out what it all meant. He looked happy, at least. Maybe Rita could keep up with the lunatic. She was crazy enough to think Ann was a person.

Nora sighed at her own, exhausting hate. “Do we have a plan for this?” she asked Des, eager to change the subject.

Des barked a laugh. “Right. Sure. All-out war with the Institute was our endgame all along. We were just really good at pretending.” She straightened up, composing herself after properly humiliating her subordinate. Just like any good commander. “No, we don’t. We have safe houses scattered around the Commonwealth, of course, but nothing like this Sanctuary you’ve been talking about. That might be our best bet. I already have people scouting it. Once they’re back, I’ll start preparations to move.”

So that was the plan. Run and hide. Over and over. Nora again studied the map and its little, black marks that spelled certain death. She thought she had been through this. Destroying the Brotherhood had almost been enough to kill her. But that was just one battle. This was a war.

“Look,” Des sighed, surely seeing Nora’s face turn down. “We’ve got a shot – a damn good one, too. We build the Interceptor, get inside the Insitute, and tear it down. No more hiding in the shadows and waiting for them to come to us.”

“Sure,” Nora muttered, careful to keep her voice low as she let her own hopelessness creep in. “Just pop inside the most heavily fortified structure in the Commonwealth and start knocking over tables. Come on, Des.”

The Railroad’s fearless leader was decidedly unimpressed. She said nothing, however, which gave Nora time to backpedal. “Look, you know I’ll be the first one through the door.”

Des chuckled. “Does Piper know that?”

Piper was not big on lying, least of all to herself. She knew. Nora nodded. “She does. And that’s not the point. My point is, we need a better plan. If we’re going to take this place, we need more… everything. Guns, people, floor plans. I know Rita has been around in there, but how often was she looking for hidden turret location or open fields of fire?”

Her words had the desired, if unpleasant effect of depressing both of them. Des was staring at the map without seeing. She was looking at the Institute, at what little Rita and Ann had told her, and she could not help but see that grisly sight that so possessed Nora. She was seeing Railroad Agents, her friends, stacked in neat little rows and covered in white sheets.

The scales were being weighted, and only Des could see them. How many dead friends was worth taking down the Institute? How many graves would she have to dig when this was over?

War, Nora decided, was an awfully tiring business, even when no one was shooting at you. “So,” she said, drawing Des back. “Get to Sanctuary.”

Des nodded. “Build the Interceptor. Get inside,” she pushed herself off the table. “I’ll see what I can dig out of our new friends about the Institute’s defenses. I don’t like the idea of rushing in there blind. You should get some rest while you can. The Institute won’t be far behind us.”

“I can always count on you for good news, can’t I?” Nora asked with a grin.

“One day I’ll have some,” Des promised, waving over her shoulder as she marched toward Rita. Another battle to fight waited, this one between her own people. Could she save the innocent girl from the clutches of the evil genius, hell-bent on turning her into one of his own minions? Nora watched with baited breath as Des leapt into the fray.

But the movie proved too long to entertain her, and she really did need sleep. Nora wandered out of the command post and toward the room she shared with Piper, hoping in vain the woman would be there. She always slept better with Piper nearby. But, she supposed that was the price one paid for falling in love with Piper Wright. She was not the kind of woman who would be waiting patiently at home for her wife’s return. Not while there were wrongs that needed to be made right.

So it was that she crept into bed alone and tried to catch a few hours of sleep before someone was trying to kill her again. She stared at the ceiling, imagining what they would find in the Institute. She imagined what she would be doing with Piper right now if Ann had never come into their lives. She tried to imagine what would be happening inside the Institute if Rita and Ann had never escaped.

It was enough to keep her from falling asleep. She wanted all this to be Ann’s fault. She wanted the pure, unwavering hatred for her to be justified. She wanted a reason.

After a few tiring minutes, Nora gave up. Rita’s words, building since their encounter the day before, had put her in an odd mood. As much as she did not want to admit it, and as easy as it was just to stay angry at the woman, maybe it was time she cut her a little slack. Piper always had, and if Piper could see the best in someone, Nora could at least stand to see something besides the worst.

It was easier said than done. Even with Rita’s voice still ringing in her ears, it was difficult to put aside the deep, and Nora thought well-deserved, hatred that had so long been festering for her robotic twin. It had taken far too much pacing and muttering and internal double-dealing just to get herself to stand up and go looking for Ann, and far more to keep searching when she did not show up in the first five seconds.

Nora finally found Ann on the second floor of their hideaway. She was lounging on one of the balconies, her back to Nora as she leaned over the edge. It was entirely too tempting to get up a running start and punt her straight off.

But she had been around Piper too long for that. Nora sidled into the room, walking unhappily toward the woman who had done so much to tear her family apart. Before she had crossed the room, Ann cocked her head, her shoulders slumping as she saw who it was. With a very cold stare, she pushed herself off the railing and turned to leave.

“You don’t have to leave,” Nora said, trying to keep her voice calm.

She could almost see the wheels turning in Ann’s head. Did she walk away anyway or did she see how this woman was going to try to kill her next? Not that Nora blamed her for that. Every word she had ever spoken to the Synth had been meant to hurt her.

But Ann stayed, showing Nora up once again. That was probably why she did it. Be the bigger person just so Nora could see it. After a few moments of awkward, impatient silence, Nora decided that did not extend to polite conversation.

“I was actually hoping to talk to you,” Nora said as she walked toward the balcony. This would go better if she did not have to look at Ann while she talked. “I know the Institute wanted you to kill Piper and it probably would have been easier on you if you had. But you didn’t, and I never did thank you for that.”

Ann’s voice was flat. “Don’t mention it.”

The sincerity in that was painfully obvious. How often, Nora wondered, did Ann think about that night? Piper had a way of haunting a woman’s thoughts, and Ann had known a side of her few others ever got the chance to see. To give that up was something beyond Nora’s power of imagination.

Nora hung her head. “Honestly, I wasn’t going to.” She pulled her lips taught and gave Ann a look out of the corner of her eye. “At least not until your friend made such a show of defending you.”

That caught Ann’s attention. She raised an eyebrow and folded her arms defensively but still said nothing.

“Look, I don’t hate Synths. I’m not just here because of Piper, I’m here because I think you do deserve a shot at life. Whatever shot there is to be had out here, anyway,” Nora turned her gaze back on the sprawling nothingness. “Whatever problems I have with you, that’s beside the point.”

“How generous of you.”

“When you think about how much easier it would be to keep Piper locked up at home, yeah, it kind of is.”

She heard Ann turn on her heel. “Sure. You’re welcome for saving your ass and giving it back to Piper. Just don’t expect an apology for shooting you in the first place.”

Nora barked a humorless laugh. “I don’t give a damn that you shot me.”

Ann’s footsteps halted abruptly and Nora heard the Synth turn back. “Want to make it a regular thing?”

“Whatever Piper did to you, whatever you went through giving her up, that’s enough to forgive a gunshot,” Nora said, ignoring Ann’s jab as she pushed herself off the railing and turned around. “But you didn’t just hurt me. You hurt Piper. I was there after you left. I saw what she went through. She couldn’t even look at me without seeing a stranger. You took every good memory we had, every happy moment she loved between us, and you tore them apart. You made it so the one person who should have been there for her, who should have comforted her and kept her safe from all this, was the one person that couldn’t get near her.”

Nora’s voice had gone cold and unfeeling. That part of her that had watched as Kellog died returned to haunt her. “That’s why it’s so damn hard for me not to put a bullet in you every time I see you. That’s why I will always hate you.”

The cold, murderous wraith waited for an answer. It wanted an excuse, and even as Nora wanted so badly to give in, she fought tooth and nail to drive it off. She was better than this. Even if she hated Ann, Piper did not. Piper forgave her. Piper moved on.

She never did get an answer. For better or worse, Nora’s words had found their mark. Ann’s eyes had never left Nora’s but no defiance remained in them. She looked hurt and miserable. Just what Nora had wanted.

Without another word, Nora stalked from the room feeling sick and in need of a long shower. Her anger spent, the little voice in her head spoke up. Ann had saved her life and Piper’s. Whatever she had done before that was not her fault and Nora damn well knew it.

This had been a bad idea. The two of them were better off just not speaking.

Gunfire from a neighboring building sent them both diving toward the floor. The unmistakable snapping of Institute lasers answered briefly before falling silent. Men shouted in the street below as Ann scampered out the door. Nora followed her, unwilling to acknowledge the nagging symbolism in the firefight. They were at war, and they had bigger problems than each other. The Institute had found them. Their time was up.

Nora pelted down the hall in search of Piper. Yes, there were bigger problems, and they would keep her from killing Ann so long as the Institute was around, but there were some cuts that ran too deep. Too much had happened between them, and no amount of honeyed words would remove the knife Ann had stabbed into Piper’s back.

That was just the way it was.


	10. The Blink of an Eye

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> As Piper and the others flee for Sanctuary, Desdemona stays behind to buy them time

Piper never had gotten used to the whole fighting-a-war thing. Nora took to it like a fish to water but Piper still felt clumsy, conspicuous, and unbearably useless. Whatever Nora and the others said of her words, she still could not shake the frustration that came with not being a born soldier.

Now the feeling sharpened. Piper dodged orderlies as they sprinted through the room and tried to hear Desdemona over the bellowing of Railroad officers trying to organize their men. Only when she had gotten right up beside her could Piper hear her clearly. “And you’re sure?” Des was asking.

The Tourist Des was speaking to nodded. “Yes, ma’am. We have Institute Synths massing one block to the east and more on the road to the north.”

Des swore. “We can’t cut through them. Even if we did, they could just follow us to Sanctuary.”

Piper watched as Glory plowed her way through the great throng of humanity, her minigun hoisted out in front of her like a ship’s keel, parting the waves as she steamed toward Des. When she finally did arrive, Des was ready. “Got a fun job for you,” she said, grabbing the Tourist by the shoulder and shoving him toward Glory. “This guy is going to show you where the fight is. Give me time to get everyone out the door and on the road to Sanctuary. Meet us there and don’t get stuck.”

Glory nodded and turned to leave. “You got it, Des.”

“It’s been a pleasure, Glory,” Des said, too softly for her to hear. “Godspeed.”

Piper, still reeling, watched as the woman rounded on her. “Once Nora gets here, I’ll be sending you both South. You’ll both be in charge of getting everyone to Sanctuary. Stay out of the fight. Just get to Sanctuary.”

“And what will you be doing?” Piper finally sputtered.

Des just laughed and shook her head. “Complaining, if I’m any judge, and wishing like hell I’d put someone else in charge.” Her face softened a bit. “I know you’ll get the job done. Glory’ll see to that.”

Before Piper could get her feet under her and demand why she was being put in charge of anything at all, Nora shoved her way into the crowd. Ann appeared a moment later with Rita closer than her own shadow. Only then did Piper notice the smaller group of men and women that had surrounded them.

Des looked them over before sparing Ann and Rita a moment. “You wanted to fight? Well, I hope you meant that. Here’s your chance.”

She stepped past Piper and addressed the small battalion of Railroad soldiers. Piper recognized a few. These were Agents, the best the Railroad had. Hard, worn faces stared impassively at their commander as she addressed them. Her tone was solemn. “You know what we’re up against. The Institute has us cornered and this time the back door isn’t open. What you don’t know is that we have a chance of ending this war for good and freeing every Synth now enslaved by those monsters. These women behind me represent that chance. It is of the highest importance that they escape today.”

“The Railroad was a stall. We all knew that. It was a way to get Synths out from under the Institute’s control, to give them a life outside those walls. It was never an army. We were never meant to smash the Institute in battle. That was for others. We just bought them time. Well, that time has come, and we have a chance to help them. The Institute has made this a war. They’ve come at us with everything they have and driven us from our homes over and over again. Thanks to us, and to the Synths standing here today, there’s still someone who can stop them.”

“So I’m asking you, as the best the Railroad has, as the best men and women I’ve ever had the privilege of knowing, to make one last sacrifice for them. I know it’s a lot to ask, and I wouldn’t be here if there was any other way. These women need safe passage. They need a diversion. They need someone to help them get away. And I, for one, am damn intent on helping.”

Desdemona pulled a long-barreled six shooter from its holster. “Volunteers only. Everyone else, meet up with the main group and make for Sanctuary. I’ll see you out there. It’s been an honor, Agents. Good luck. And good hunting.”

In silence, the crowd dispersed. A few exchanged looks before heading for the door. Some saluted Des, who returned the gesture with a nod. Most just loaded their rifles or took one last drag on a cigarette before heading to the front. Piper nearly missed what Des was saying to Nora. “Get them to Sanctuary, understand?”

Nora was nodding. “Yes, ma’am.”

As Des turned to leave, she gave Piper one last, wide grin. “Wanna hear something funny?” she asked, twirling her pistol. “I always liked you. You’ve got spirit and I have a weakness for girls with a little fire. But the Publick?” She shook her head and chuckled. “Not so much. Maybe get yourself an editor once this is over.”

And then she was gone, marching out to join the battle. To give her life for… for what? A plan? A prayer? The thin, impossible hope that they could take down the Institute?

Nora grabbed Piper under the arm and started pulling her away. “Come on, Pipes.”

“But –“

“She made her choice, now we have to make ours,” Nora said as she dragged her toward the door. “We can make it mean something or we can get ourselves killed chasing her.”

Ann trailed behind, her eyes on the door. She wanted to run out there, too. Rita looked from Ann back toward Nora and Piper, horror etching her face. This was too sudden. Everything was fine this morning. Then some Synth makes a little noise and everything falls apart? How many people woke up this morning not knowing it was their last?

Piper heard her own voice as thought someone else were speaking. “Come on,” the strange Piper said to Ann and Rita. “We have to go.”

The two looked back, each face going from shocked to defiant to terrified in the space of a single breath. Piper kept talking. “You heard her. This is our only shot. We go to Sanctuary, build the Interceptor, and we can stop the Institute. Once and for all.”

It was Rita who, with the barest touch of her hand, finally got Ann to move. The four hurried from the room, a few solemn Agents trailing them as their brothers and sisters followed Des into the fire. Outside the building they found what was left of the Railroad waiting for them. Barely a hundred people stood in a gaggle. Most were Tourists or techs or Synths who happened to be sheltered in Hangman’s Alley at the time of the attack.

Wordlessly, they put their backs to the fighting, to the sounds of their friends fighting and dying, and followed Nora into the city. The sun dragged slowly across the sky, giving way to a bitter night as they neared the distant hills. The guns faded behind them. No one found comfort in the quiet.

Few had ever seen Sanctuary Hills before. Nora led the column around Concord, past the dilapidated diner sitting so lonely on the hilltop, and finally to the abandoned Red Rocket. Piper found her standing alone on a small rise, framed by starlight as she cradled her rifle and stared unblinkingly into the distance. Already the others were snaking across the broken bridge and into the darkness beyond. There were no houses to give the place its shape, only their broken bones.

Piper watched as the last of the Railroad walked in single file. In the darkness they looked like shades, the souls of the dead returning to their crypts. It was unfair that Nora was here again, a lonely spirit from before the war, cursed to wander when all she wanted was a rest.

Her ghost now wavered in the moonlight as Piper put one arm around her. She wished she could speak a few words to warm her, a few to comfort her, and a few to take the pain away. To give her the rest she so deserved. She wished she had that power.

But she stayed silent, not knowing those magic words. Nora remained cold and distant even in Piper’s arms. At length, she spoke her own magic words. “I’m home.”

They were enough to take Piper’s warmth away. She held Nora tighter against the dark, but there was nothing she could do. The cold of being gone two hundred years, of a family long dead, of a Vault buried deep beneath the earth, had taken her, and Piper was alone. A poor replacement for a woman’s entire life.


	11. Sanctuary

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> As the Railroad settles in at Sanctuary, Piper finds Nora in her old home

From the outside, no one would have guessed Sanctuary had been reoccupied. Only the keen eye could see that the windows facing the bridge were a little too boarded up, the piles of rubble there a little too sturdy. Maybe, if someone waited long enough, they might see a figure or two darting between the buildings or hear the sound of hammering that surely carried across the hilltop. These small clues might suggest a group of scavengers hiding out or a Raider gang taking shelter, but even put together, no one would suspect that the Railroad was converting the place into a strongpoint that would rival the Institute itself.

Piper smirked at that. Sure, they had a few turrets and plenty of bullets and more raw materials than they could ever use, but this place was no fortress. If the Institute came – when the Institute came – the Railroad would lose. But not before they made the bastards bleed for it.

There was no doubt in Piper’s mind as to who would be fighting the hardest for this particular hilltop. Nora had disappeared the night before and Piper had not been able to find her before passing out on the floor with the rest of the weary travelers. Her waking hours so far had been devoted to organizing the Railroad and keeping everyone busy so she had yet to go looking for her wayward lover in the daylight. Lucky for her, Tinker Tom had no qualms appropriating the labor he needed and now had most of the surviving Railroad busy scavenging the ruins. Already one of the collapsed buildings had been hollowed out and turned into a staging area for all things Interceptor. That was where Ann and Rita tended to live, now. Rita had the skills Tom wanted and wherever Rita went, Ann was not far behind.

As for Piper, she remained about as useful as she always was. The constant barrage of questions she could not answer did not help at all. She just did the best she could or pointed them in the direction of someone more inclined to make the hard decisions. It seemed to be working out. No one had complained, anyway.

Sometime before midday, she managed to slip away long enough to go look for Nora, hurrying through the street and ducking into a shadowed building on the far side. Someone inside was complaining. “I don’t know, she just kicked me out.”

Railroad soldiers peered through slits in the windows and gave Piper respectful nods as she passed. The man doing the whining was nursing his arm as someone handed him a flask of probably-not-water. “You’re lucky you got away with a scratch. She could have taken your arm off, you know,” another man was saying as he examined the wounded arm.

“Yeah, I know, but it would be nice if I knew why she wanted to rip it off. She’s like a Deathclaw with –“ he stopped abruptly as Piper walked in. “Oh. Fuck. Sorry, Miss.”

Piper raised an eyebrow. “Nora did that?”

The man nodded slowly. “It’s not bad. Doesn’t really hurt at all, actually,” he said, failing to hide a wince as he tried to demonstrate how unhurt he was.

She probably should have expected this. Sanctuary was her old home. Even without a hundred strangers invading, it was still an open wound. “Where is she?”

“The house just down the street. Uh, two doors down. Miss. I’m sorry, it’s nothing. I’m fine. Really.”

Piper declined even to shush the man as she left. After more frenzied jogging through the shadows and along the overgrown fences, Piper came to the house in question. No Railroad soldiers hid behind the walls. If they did not know it was off limits before, they would now. Piper wondered if even she would be allowed inside. This was Nora’s private place. Her deepest, darkest place.

She slipped through the front door as quietly as she could. Nora was nowhere to be seen. A pot still sat on the stove, coffee cups still waited on the kitchen island. Piper had the sudden vision of a Mr. Handy bustling about while the television talked endlessly about today’s weather. Nora swept through the kitchen in a flattering, billowing dress of blue and gold. A Vault Dweller before the Vault. She looked beautiful.

It was gone just as quickly, fading and falling to the floor like so much dust. Piper stood in the doorway, unwilling to move. She wanted it to come back. She wanted to see the old Nora, the one with a loving son and doting husband, the one without the Wasteland’s scars.

But she did move. This Nora, the one she loved, needed her help. “Nora?” she called quietly.

There was no answer. Piper took a few more unwilling steps deeper inside. There was only one hallway. Piper followed it, carefully picking her way over the bits of roofing that had piled everywhere. She was almost afraid Nora would not be here. Vault 111 was around here somewhere. What if Nora had gone back? Piper had no idea where the door to the Vault was, let alone how to open it.

Then she came to the end of the hallway. Nora was sitting on the floor of the last room, her back to the door, staring sightlessly at the empty crib. Piper felt her heart break in that moment. _Oh, Nora. You were so brave to come back here._

Piper settled down quietly beside her. “Hey. You okay?”

Nora did not move. She just stared at the crib. Piper waited a long while hoping for an answer. Of course she was not okay. How could anyone be okay coming back to a place like this?

The breeze rippled the tattered curtains and moved the dust on the floor. A few dried twigs skittered along the side of the house, but other than that, it was all quiet. Piper looked again at the lifeless Nora sitting beside her. Unsure whether she should hold her or just walk away, Piper just sat there, as useless here as she was to the Railroad.

She felt herself standing up without realizing what she was doing. Almost without thinking, she walked to the far end of the room and picked up the worn, blue lamp sitting on the side table. She felt Nora’s eyes on her and half-expected her to bolt to her feet, snatching the broken lamp away and telling her to leave. When nothing happened, Piper began turning it in her hands, as carefully as if it were the very memory of Shaun.

The shade was a mess. Piper twisted the plastic a bit here and there and, like a little girl hiding her crime, turned the parts she could not fix to face the wall. She ran a sleeve over the dust-caked table and wiped the worst of the stuff from view. Setting the lamp back down, she found herself moving the crib back toward the wall, out of the harsh sunlight streaming through a hole in the roof. She found a baby book, its words still perfectly legible despite the years, in a pile beneath where the crib had been and set it gently down in the bed. There was even a blanket she could spread over the faded pillows.

There were a few more odds and ends in the broken room that Piper picked up or tried to sweep from sight. When it was all done, she liked to think the room looked a bit brighter. There was only so much she could do, of course, but it was a start. She hoped. This room was an open wound for Nora, and Piper would have done anything in the world to kiss it and make it better.

Nora had watched her the whole time. When Piper finally turned around, she saw the woman staring at her, tears in her eyes and the most loving look on her face. Piper managed a smile as she looked around the room. “Interior decorating was never my thing.”

“Thank you,” Nora rasped as she dragged one hand across her eyes. It came away gleaming in the sunlight.

Piper shook her head as she crossed the room and sat back down beside her. “It’s nothing. Why don’t we come back later? We could scavenge up a couple brooms, maybe make this place look like home again.”

Nora shook her head and leaned onto Piper’s shoulder. She stayed that way for a long moment, just resting, lovingly staring at every tiny change Piper had made to the room. It was nothing like it was, and it never would be, but for some reason she loved it.

Her voice was softer than Piper had ever heard it. “I don’t know what I ever did to deserve you.”

“You put up with me,” Piper leaned down and nuzzled Nora’s weary head. “You let me in. And you didn’t have to. I know you had all this and…” Piper looked around Shaun’s room and realized how little she had done. How little she had given back. “I know I can never give you anything this perfect. I wish I could. But you let me in anyway and you let me try to make your life a little brighter.”

There was a long silence as Nora turned to Piper and wrapped her in a hug, burying her face in Piper’s shoulder as she tried to find herself again. Piper held her for as long as it took. This was what she wanted so badly. She wanted Nora to move in with her –really move in with her – and settle down. They could move into Home Plate, spend a year or two making it into a real home, and have a real life, just the three of them.

The four of them, Piper thought as she stared at the crib. They would get Shaun back. Piper would give anything for that. Then they could all be together in Diamond City. It sounded like a dream, but it was a dream Piper was willing to chase.

Nora pushed herself away with what might have been a sniffle. “Thanks. We, um, don’t have to come back. With brooms. The Railroad probably needs them.”

Piper nodded. “All right. You just let me know if you change your mind, okay?”

A very rueful smile grew on Nora’s face. “The world’s a bit fucked for us to be playing house.”

It really was, but that had never stopped Piper from trying. “That’s why we’re here,” Piper said cheerfully. “To unfuck the world so it will stop fucking with us.”

A burst of laughter tore through Nora’s melancholy and brought back the woman Piper so longed to see. “I don’t think I’ve ever been more motivated in my life.”

Piper grinned and held Nora to her side as the woman giggled over her endearing wordplay. It was a good thing she and Piper shared a terrible sense of humor. To be able to make her laugh at a time like this; that was Piper’s true gift. In her mind, it was the only one that really mattered. Nora had given so much to Piper. It was only fair she give a little back, even if it was as simple as making her laugh.

Piper gave Nora another squeeze. “I’m proud of you, you know.”

Nora blinked away a few stray tears. “What do you mean?”

“For coming back here.” Piper looked around the room. “I know it wasn’t easy but I think it was the right choice. It’s quiet, out of the way, and there’s more than enough room for whatever it is Tom has in mind. I think the Institute will have a hell of a time finding us here.”

At least, that was what she hoped. Nora shook her head. “It was nothing. It just made sense, that’s all.”

Piper would have none of it. “It more than makes sense. It’s perfect.” She took another long, quiet look at the room. “I’ll understand if you want to stay here, tonight. I can stay, too, if you want. But if you want to be alone, I’ll be just across the street.”

Nora pushed herself up off the floor. “No,” she said as Piper stood with her. “That’s all right. I just needed to see it again.” Her eyes found Piper’s and lingered for a moment. “Whatever happens, with you and Nat and Shaun, this isn’t my home anymore. Someone else lived here. And even if I miss them, I can’t bring them back. Sometimes I’m not even sure I want to.”

There were a thousand perfect things Piper should have said. Instead of saying any of them, she fumbled and barely managed to get out Nora’s name.

When she finally did, Nora just smiled. “I don’t mean it like that. I just think that maybe I’ve finally made peace with it. I miss Nate and Shaun… I’ll always wish I got the chance to raise him somewhere normal.” She chuckled breathily as she said it. “No offense. But even if I wish all that, I can’t imagine a life anywhere else. I want him to meet you. I want him to play with Nat and worry every night about how horribly she’ll make him turn out.”

Piper heard herself snort with unbidden laughter. “She won’t do that. Not without me helping.”

Nora smiled and nuzzled at Piper happily. “See? You make me happy, Piper, happier than I ever thought I could be. So, even if the road was hard getting here, I don’t want to go back. Not like I used to. Not anymore.”

With a gentle hand, Nora began guiding Piper through the door and toward the world outside. Piper watched as Nora took one last look over her shoulder, her eyes lingering on the crib. She was suddenly overcome with the feeling that this was the last time she would ever see it, and she did not know whether to be relieved or heartbroken.

“Come on,” Nora said as they left. “There’s a house just down the street we can camp out in.”

Piper felt herself smiling at the impish, lively voice she so loved to hear. “You didn’t tell me you had friends around here.”

“Oh, I hated them,” Nora said easily. “Real bastard neighbors – I think the bombs actually did their yard a favor – but they had this really nice home theater setup in their basement.” She hesitated, a slight chuckle escaping her lips. “And I really feel like knocking over some furniture right now.”


	12. I Promise

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Someone unexpected returns to Sanctuary

Nora avoided her old home after that first night. She walked by it every day on her way to work at the bridge, but she never really thought about going in. Not after what Piper did. She moved on, shouldering her burdens with what she hoped was an attractive, mysterious air, and tried to live her life. Unfortunately for her, that life soon descended into a monotony that should have been impossible. Even as death loomed over them, the immediate, mundane reality managed to seep into the bones of every man, woman, and Synth inside Sanctuary. There was always work to be done, of course, and Nora frequently found herself exhausted by day’s end, but the vast realm of physical labor held no treasure for her or Piper, and so the two of them whined like little girls.

The alternative was no more enticing. Rita was rarely seen outside of Tom’s reach and, when she was, it was only because Ann had physically dragged her away to make sure she ate something once a week. Nora had never been much for higher math, and today she was thankful for that deficiency. Even if she spent the day digging ditches or loading turrets, at least no one was asking her to do homework.

Nora found herself digging a nice foxhole by the bridge when that monotony began to break. Over the piles of rubble, heaped as barricades then camouflaged to fool passing travelers, Nora spotted a figure on the road. Someone hissed the alarm. Railroad Agents dropped their shovels and picked up their rifles before scuttling into the line. Nora picked up her own weapon and bounded forward, furiously worrying over Piper.

Her worrying was pointless. Crossing the bridge with painstaking slowness, the casual, battered traveler was soon close enough to be recognized even by anyone who called the Railroad home.

“Des?!” someone shouted.

Nora climbed from her hole, beaming as every window and pile of sticks suddenly brimmed with eager eyes. To their credit, most followed orders and stayed inside. Everyone else, Nora included, bum-rushed the bridge like kids at a concert.

Des was beaming as she trundled into the city. She clasped the hand of the first man that got to her and shook it. “I’m gone for a few days and you hole up in a place like this?” She looked around at the collapsed buildings and grimy faces. “Like children without your mother.”

Nora laughed with the rest. “Where’s your Geiger counter, Synth?”

Des grinned even wider. “In the shop, Agent. Keep it up with that tone of yours and I’ll assign you a codename you won’t enjoy. I’m thinking we could use an Agent Jackass.”

Much laughing ensued at Nora’s expense. She cast a quick glance around for Piper and thanked God when she did not find her. If that woman got word Nora needed a codename, she would be forced to leave the Commonwealth forever. Des moved from soldier to soldier, still smiling. “Glad someone around here is keeping you in order. I was worried I’d…”

Des trailed off as someone else pushed their way through the crowd. Glory pushed her way through the crowd, all stoic silence and brilliant white hair, until she was right in front of Des. She did not say a word. No one did.

Des’s smile turned into something much different. “Miss me?” she asked quietly.

Glory answered without a word, and slowly, carefully enveloped Des in a deep and very intimate embrace. A few people chuckled. Most shuffled in silence or found something deeply enthralling about the dirt at their feet. Nora watched as Des’s arms slowly moved up Glory’s back to return the hug, shaking as they did. No one else was close enough to see her face as she buried it in Glory’s shoulder.

No one else was close enough to hear Glory whisper “Don’t ever do that again.”

“I won’t,” Des whispered back. “Promise.”

Nora cleared her throat uncomfortably. “We should get you inside, boss.” When Glory pulled away from Des long enough to give Nora a truly terrifying death glare, she quickly added “There’s a spare house down the road. You should get settled in. Out of sight. You know. From the Institute.”

Well, she would have to tell Piper they had roommates now, but it was a big house. They could take the basement while Nora and Piper occupied the master suite upstairs. It would be painful, letting go of that home theater room, but these two had earned the privacy. Really, really earned it. And Glory was still glaring, which was one of the most frightening things Nora had ever seen, so this seemed like a good way to keep anyone from being murdered today.

The crowd slowly broke up. Glory finally let go of Des and let her follow Nora up the street and into their new home. Nora showed them down to the basement and mentally prepared herself to abandon one of the most well-preserved rooms she had seen since waking up. The chairs still had their stuffing, the floor still had most of its carpet, she would have bet that the projector still worked, too, if they could just power it up.

As sad as it was to see it go, as Nora watched Glory begin fussing over Des and berating her for not being more careful, she found it very easy to walk away. These two had probably not been alone together for a very long time. With Des running the Railroad and Glory always in the field, this might have been the first time they had some privacy since Piper stumbled through their door with Ann so long ago. Nora grimaced at that memory. Piper may have needed to get it off her chest, and that meant Nora would listen to the tale a thousand times, but there were times she really did wish she could blot it out.

Glory was murmuring something as she picked at Des’s scarf. “Can’t let you out of my sight for ten minutes, can I?”

“I think I did all right,” Des smiled back, her hands playing with Glory’s coat. “Haven’t been out in the field in years. I think I missed it.”

“You missed it,” Glory scoffed as the scarf tumbled to the floor. “You’re never going back out there again, so I hope you enjoyed your last little trip.”

Now Glory’s coat started to slough off her shoulders as Des dragged her back toward one of the chairs. “My last? And how are you planning on enforcing that order, Agent?”

Nora made herself scarce as Glory started demonstrating exactly how she would be enforcing that order. Up the stairs she flew, pausing only to keep the door from slamming. She thought about barricading it or locking it or finding someone to stand guard but boots on the street outside kept her from doing much of anything. All she did was stand there, body-blocking for two women who really needed a moment alone.

Piper zipped through the door in a flash of red. “Is Des here?” she asked giddily, almost pushing by Nora to get to the door.

“Yes,” Nora said, quickly easing an overeager Piper away from the door. “But you really don’t want to go down there right now. Glory’s, uh, got her occupied. For the next hour. Probably.”

“What are you…” Piper, never one to use her powers for good, read Nora’s mind and started laughing. “I knew it!”

“Good for you,” Nora said, rolling her eyes and pushing Piper back toward the front door. “Now help me find a sock. I don’t want to keep standing here.”

“A sock?”

“For the door.”

Piper stood there for a long moment. “Why?”

Nora sighed. “Old-world thing. Look, just find something that will keep people from barging in on those two.”

With a little tilt of her head, Piper went off to lock the front door. Nora knew that look. It would not be long before she was trying to explain why in the world a sock on the door meant ‘do not disturb’. It happened every time something from the old world came up. Piper would ask her about it, Nora would realize it was just something everyone did, and she would proceed to lie her ass off. In this case, she had no idea where the sock came from except that it was less garish than underwear and more convenient than jeans and a tee shirt. Maybe that would be enough for Piper’s inquisitive mind.

The front door, as it happened, did not lock, and the two were forced to sit themselves on the small patio in order to keep people out. They might have stayed inside, but Nora was not entirely confident in the basements soundproofing. If she was going to be working with those two in the near future, she could do without the mental images any stray noises might burn into her brain.

Piper plopped herself down beside Nora, humming and bouncing on her seat. “I’ll bet they haven’t been together like this in months. They have to see each other every day, keep up appearances, make sure no one suspects. I’ll bet Des worries herself sick when she has to send Glory on a dangerous assignment.”

Nora groaned and shook her head. “You’re having way too much fun with this. You know this was our house, right?”

That caught her a bit off guard. For a moment, Piper slumped. “They’re taking the basement?” Nora nodded and Piper began to sulk. “I liked that couch.”

“We still have the upstairs,” Nora pointed out. “And the bed.”

Piper brightened and gave Nora a mischievous grin. “We have been making good use of that, haven’t we?”

Nora turned red and looked away. Almost excessive use, as it happened, but in all fairness, they had a lot of time to make up for. Ever since that horrible day when Ann had arrived in Diamond City, Nora had found herself wishing for more time. She had already lost two hundred years, so in her mind, she was owed two centuries of uninterrupted peace with Piper Wright.

Well, uninterrupted might be a stretch. When fate was not conspiring to keep them apart, Piper was busy tearing the guts out of the Commonwealth in her eternal quest for the truth. Worse, on the few occasions where Nora could keep her still long enough to be kissed, her younger sister seemed intent on picking up the slack, following in Piper’s troublesome footsteps. Not that Nora would ever blame Natalie for that. It was Piper’s fault, through and through.

She smiled wanly as her thoughts turned to the little girl. There should have been a way to check on her. Travis should have been passing coded dispatches over the radio so Piper would know that she was still stable or that she was showing signs of improvement. Or that she had woken up.

“We have a lot of time to make up for,” Nora said at length, as much to Piper as to her little sister. There was so much she wanted to do with them. She had a family again. She had a beautiful woman who somehow was in love with her and her little sister was now closer to her adopted daughter than anything else. It was too good to be true.

Which, Nora supposed, was why she had to go through so much just to get back home. Survive all this, said the harsh world, and you can live like a queen. Fine. If that was what it took, Nora would rip the Institute down brick by synthetic brick.

Piper wiggled closer, laying her head on Nora’s shoulder and putting an arm around her waist. They stayed that way for a long time, watching the world go by. Figures in tattered browns and blues emerged from their holes like rodents, squinting at the sun as they scampered toward the buildings. More little rodents scampered out, down the street and out of sight. Some reappeared a moment later, turning from the road to dig their holes on the hillside between Sanctuary and Vault 111.

“Promise me something.”

Nora looked down at Piper to find her bright eyes shining through a tumble of black hair. “What?”

“I know you’ll be the first one into the Institute,” Piper said. “Everyone does. I just… I’m not asking you to stay here and when you do go, I’ll be right behind you, but… I want you to promise me something. The Institute is big and horrible and if Ann and Rita are telling the truth, it’s going to be a really tough fight.”

Piper leaned her head back, brushing her own hair aside with one hand before tangling it in Nora’s. “Just promise me you’ll come back. Promise me there’s an end to all this where I can wake up next to you every morning for the rest of my life. Promise me you’ll come home. Okay?”

Nora smiled. There was nothing in the world that could stop her from doing that. She leaned over and kissed Piper’s smiling lips. “I promise.”


	13. Here and There

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ann adjusts to life with the Railroad

Ann watched as another ragged soul crept underneath the bridge, hopped through the shallows, and scampered up the slope to be challenged by the Railroad guards. Another survivor of the battle had found his way back into the fold. He would be welcomed by back-slapping comrades and hearty doses of drink would be served. It would last as long as he let it. Then he would ask about his best friend, the cheers would stop, and he would turn his eyes to the hills, waiting for the next poor soul to wander over the horizon.

From the house on the edge of the hamlet, Ann had a good view of that horizon. As she cleaned and reassembled the turret she had been working on, she wondered how many more would find their way back before the Institute decided to follow one here. No one seemed to consider that an option, or if they did, no one was saying as much. At least Des was back now. She had a good head on her shoulders.

Behind her, Diamond City Radio serenaded the living room. More Railroad soldiers stacked boxes of ammunition next to rolls of cloth, stretchers, and Stimpacks. Every house had been converted into a potential strongpoint. At least, that was the hope. Looking at the ancient walls, Ann wondered if a determined Synth could just bull right through, machine guns be damned.

“Ann?”

Rita’s voice caused Ann to fumble the turret barrel and she nearly sent it spinning out the firing port trying to catch it. “Rita? When did you get here?”

“Just now,” she said with an impish grin. She lowered her voice in an exaggerate whisper. “I’m hiding from Tom.”

Ann did not have to try to smile back. “Well, you’re welcome to join me in my hole. It’s not like anyone else is brightening up the place.”

Settling herself into a shadowed corner, Rita wrapped her arms around her knees and watched Ann continue to work the dust and grime out of the hopelessly-warped metal. With any luck, it would at least fire once before it jammed and went up in smoke.

“So, how’s life as Tom’s favorite pupil?”

She heard Rita sigh. “Fascinating. I love the challenge. He knows so much and the work is really important. I feel like I’m really helping.”

There was a long pause that caused Ann to smile and prompt “But?”

“I’m tired,” Rita whined and let her head flop onto her curled-up knees.

“Come dig ditches with me,” Ann said cheerily. “You get to be outside, no one is looking over your shoulder. You even get your own shovel.”

Rita groaned. “Is there any way I can contribute by sleeping?”

“I’ll ask around. Or you could just hide here. I’ll stand guard.”

“I believe you,” Rita murmured into her legs. “I think if you told them, they’d let me do whatever I wanted.”

Ann found herself fiddling with the same bit of metal as she thought about that. It was a joke, right? “Yeah, sure. Let me ring up Des and give her my list of demands. I’m dying to be back in handcuffs again.”

Rita snorted. “They wouldn’t do that. Not to you.”

“What, I’ve been locked up once so I’m immune?”

“They wouldn’t because they look up to you,” Rita said, her voice weary but calm and serious. “You came back. You’re a Synth who rejected the Institute. Twice. Everything you’ve done is just a story to them. You’ve done things no Synth ever has. And they love you for it, even if they don’t always show it.”

Ann had now stopped pretending to work and just sat, staring at Rita’s hair as it fell over her knees. She was still not looking at her. All this was so obvious she did not even need to take it seriously. The Railroad did not hate Ann for what she had done, just like Piper did not hate her. No one hated her. Ann had waltzed into Piper’s life, shot Nora, and nearly destroyed everything she loved because she had not known any better. Because she had just been an Institute drone.

And they loved her for it.

Rita finally looked up when the Railroaders in the next room began booing the radio. Whatever song they were enjoying had ended and a familiar voice began crackling over the air. “Why do they keep the radio on if they don’t like it?” she asked, still not looking at Ann.

Still reeling, Ann managed to fish out an answer after the stuttering of Travis Miles had faded and the next song began to play. “It reminds them it’s still out there. Diamond City, I mean,” Ann said as Rita kept watching the other room. “They haven’t been out there in a long time and, with the Institute taking over the world, they want to know there’s still something out there to fight for. It gives them hope.”

Rita chewed on that for a long moment, nibbling her lip the way she always did whenever she was people watching. Her eyes got all big and zipped this way and that, taking in everyone and everything in the world. It made Ann feel warm when she was like this. Just to be next to someone so wonderful and innocent made her feel like everything in the world was going to be okay. How could it not?

Ann tried again to focus on the turret or on the crowd now gathering outside to welcome the lost soldier. Maybe Rita was right. Things had been different around here. Besides the occasional patrol, the radio was their only link to the outside world. Sanctuary had been their entire world for the last few weeks and everyone living in the battered houses had started to see their neighbors as the last people on earth. Sanctuary had just become Here, and everything not Here was dangerous, not to be trusted. Beyond the bridge or over the moat was Out There, and Out There was a terrifying place. Out There had Synths twenty feet tall that breathed fire. Out There was a place where the darkness was a living thing that waited to swallow you up. It was an evil, haunted place. A place where nightmares lived.

It made everyone Here stop caring about the little things. No one seemed to look at Ann any differently than they looked at Nora. All they saw was another Railroad Agent, another comrade trying to turn Out There back to reason, to the Commonwealth and the way the world should be. That was why they put up with Travis. He reminded them that not all was lost Out There. People still lived there and were trying to make it better. They were being brave, so everyone Here could be just as brave.

_Be brave. It should be that simple._

Ann’s life was full of regrets. She regretted what she had done to Piper. Going to the Institute had been a horrible mistake and it was her own idiocy that had caused Rita so much pain and suffering. She wished she could take so much of it back. It was that hate for herself, for what she used to and always would be, that kept her from giving up.

She did not want to live that way anymore. She wanted to live for something else. Something better.

Rita spoke first. “Can I ask you something?”

“Yeah,” Ann said as she composed herself. “Anything.”

“We’re fighting the Institute, but not Synths, right?”

Ann nodded. “Yeah. Of course.”

“We’re trying to save them all. Give all of them, all of us, a right to live.”

Rita was peeking over her knees, her eyes small and worried. She was much too pretty to be looking so down so often. Again, Ann nodded. “Seems like that’s what the Railroad is all about. Is something wrong?”

“What are Coursers?”

Ann fidgeted uncomfortably. The last time someone had asked her that, she ended up bleeding out in the dirt. “I don’t know,” she admitted. “I just always thought of them as Coursers.”

“I know they’re evil,” Rita whispered. Ann prayed she remembered nothing of what they did to her. Of everything she had forgotten, she prayed that nightmare had been taken away. “The Institute made them to keep us from asking questions. But are they Synths? Do they ever wonder if what they are doing is right?”

Ann honestly had no idea. “I don’t know, Rita.”

“And the other generations? Are the Gen 1s less aware than we are? Or do we ignore them because they don’t look like us?”

These were the questions Father should have been answering. His children were out here suffering through an existential crisis while he tried to kill them. Ann had never had a real father, but she imagined this was not how one was supposed to behave. Of course, they also usually had a mother there to help raise them. Maybe that was why he had turned out so poorly.

The thought made her cringe. That was unfair and she knew it. If she was going to start living for something else, she had better start thinking that way. “Father said the Gen 1s were less aware than the rest. We were the closest thing he made to human life. All the others were just…”

She trailed off, not wanting to finish the sentence. Her kinship with the steel-framed death machines was somewhat uncomfortable, but it was still there. They were still her brothers and sisters. Even if they were… different than the rest of the family.

“Do you believe him?”

In this, Ann had to admit she was not an expert. “I do. At least, I think he was telling most of the truth. I don’t think any of them ever questioned who they were or wanted to make lives of their own. Only we did that.”

“And that’s what we’re trying to save?” Rita asked softly. “The ones who want to be free?”

“They are the only ones we can save.”

That was what it would come down to. When they infiltrated the Institute, a line would have to be drawn. Every Synth, from worker to Courser, would be ordered to take up arms and kill the invaders. If they wanted freedom, if they wanted the right to choose for themselves, any Synth could choose to fight for the Railroad or even to hide until the battle was over.

But there would be those who fought back, and Ann believed every Courser would. She believed every Gen 1 would. When the time came, they would not have the luxury of wondering what thoughts the enemy was thinking or whether they were thinking any at all.

It was not a pleasant thought. Rita grew more worried as Ann grew more distant. She tried to cheer the girl up. “It’s going to be all right. We’ll get inside, talk to Patriot, and get everyone out. Everyone will have a chance. That’s more than they would ever have under Father and the Institute. This will work. I promise.”

Rita smiled at that. She still looked worried and tired, but God her smile was beautiful. “I know. I’m just worried. And thinking too much.”

Ann chuckled. “Be like me and don’t think at all. Get some sleep. I’ll keep Tom away from you.”

“Promise?” Rita asked, snuggling herself further back into the corner.

“I promise.”

Ann watched her start to drift away, smiling happily as sleep finally took her. Ann should have been more worried. What if no Synths joined them? What if Ann and Rita were so poorly made that every other Synth was happy under the Institute’s rule? What if no other Synths had ever been Recalled? What if Rita was the last one?

None of that was true, of course. Rita was not the first, and she would not be the last. Ann had no doubt that chamber had been used to silence thousands of Synths in its lifetime, and thousands more would be subjected to it if they did not stop Father. That was what they were fighting for. They were fighting for that one damn room. For that one damn video of Rita, sobbing and pleading for mercy as they dragged her to the chair.

No one would ever do that to her again.


	14. With a Whisper

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ann helps Piper work through her fears over Nat; Nora asks Ann for a favor

The days were getting shorter. Ann could swear the sun was not shining the way it used to and the nights dragged on for weeks even in the height of summer. The daily life that had begun taking over Sanctuary now yielded to a slow, creeping dread. Everyone felt it. People had stopped talking to each other the way they used to. Patrols sent to gather supplies simply vanished. More and more the Railroad was becoming blind to the world outside. No one booed Travis Miles when he stuttered and bumbled his way between songs. Everyone watched the bridge with one eye as they worked, saying nothing when no one came across.

It was overcast when Ann emerged from her shelter to stretch her legs. Rita had been cooped up with Tom for days and Ann, unable to convince her to leave her work, had now been reduced to bringing her food every few hours. She also lectured endlessly on the merits of sleep, to the irritation of Tom and the pleasant, understanding smile of Rita. Apparently, that lesson had yet to sink in.

She was busy planning her next foray into the science lab when she spotted a break in the clouds. The beauty was striking. Huge, golden rays descending from heaven in a dramatic, uplifting visage that almost made her hopeful. Across the sky they rolled, lazy in their glory. Ann could have watched for hours, something that made her wonder how much more sleep she should be getting. She shook herself and prepared to lope across the street when the light fell on a familiar figure.

There, in a shaft of golden sunlight, sat Piper, her back against an enormous, dead tree. Her hat was pulled down and her legs were tucked to her chest as she scribbled frantically in a small notebook. It put the sun itself to shame.

She knew better than to spend too much time with Piper. Nora needed her space and, if Ann was going to be bettering herself, poking at old wounds was something she should avoid, but in this, she could not help herself. She strolled across the open ground, watching as Piper’s gaze flicked from the notebook to the world and back again.

“Planning a new column for the Publick?” she asked awkwardly. “At the front with Piper Wright?”

Piper’s lips ticked upward. “Maybe, if I’d thought to bring my press. Do you think Rita would mind throwing one together for me?”

Ann had no doubt the girl would be all too happy to work for the famous Piper Wright. These Railroad grunts had been more than eager to tell Rita everything about their very own celebrity and now she probably saw stars every time she walked by. Not that Ann was much better in that regard.

“I’ll see what I can do,” Ann said, seating herself against the tree. “That’s if I can ever pull her away from Tom, anyway.”

“Good luck with that. I heard him talking about her over dinner last night. He’s probably just as in love with her as you are.”

Piper looked up, eyes gleaming with that horrible I-know-your-secret giddiness. Ann shifted and grumbled while Piper enjoyed herself. “I’m surprised he finds time to eat between ordering her around and building whatever it is they’re working on in there.”

She spared a glance for the building, eyeing the camouflaging panels now covering the radar dish. They had actually been laid rather well, in spite of how much effort it took to get them up there. She could still see the hole where one unlucky soul had fallen through. He was lucky to escape with just a broken ankle.

“From what I hear, she does just as much ordering as he does,” Piper said as she scribbled. “You should hear them go at it. I can’t understand a word they’re saying, but I think little Rita has found her calling. You should be happy for her.”

Ann pouted. “I am. I’d just be happier if I got to see her every once in a while.”

Piper laughed. “That’s all part of the story, though, isn’t it? I would be happier if Nora didn’t think wrestling a Deathclaw made for a fun afternoon. Nora would be happier if I wasn’t raising hell with the Publick.” She tapped her pen against the notepad with a smirk. “Which is just too bad for her.”

That was the truth. Piper would sooner part with her legs than with the Publick. “And what does the Publick have to say about the world today?” Ann asked, again trying to peer over Piper’s shoulder.

“I thought I’d try an editorial. I’m in the midst of a gripping account of the war so far. Do you mind if I interview you?”

Ann rolled her eyes. “Can I remain anonymous? I have strong opinions about the food here.”

“The press makes no promises,” Piper chortled as she scratched. “From what I can tell, our war with the Institute involves digging a lot of holes. Can you shed some light on this?”

A smile broke over Ann’s face and she found herself unable to resist putting on an officious accent. “Why yes, of course. You see, when we were first strategizing for the coming battles, we noticed that the Mole Rat has been wildly successful at avoiding the Institute’s attention. You’ll notice no Mole Rat Synths have been encountered to date, and we believe that, in studying the nature of this crafty beast, we can find the key to defeating the Institute.”

Professional to the core, Piper kept a straight face. “I see. Tell me more about these research operations. Do they extend beyond the earth-moving capabilities of these animals?”

“Oh, our research into other areas is far advanced. You’ll notice that not only have we replicated their living conditions, but we have also come very close to perfecting, and even improving their natural defensive stench.”

“Impressive,” Piper said, nodding sagely and failing to hide the quirk of her lips.

Ann stroked her chin and pretended to muse aloud. “Yes, I believe that, given a few more months, we could become so like the Mole Rat that no one would be able to tell the difference between our soldiers and naked, pink rodents. The Institute, I believe, would then want nothing to do with us.”

Laughter bubbled between Piper’s lips. “Naked, pink rodents. I’m quoting you on that.”

“If you look close you can spot a few,” Ann said, leaning over and pointing down the road toward the bridge. Piper laughed again and looked over her knees. Ann took the opportunity to peer over her shoulder and try to glimpse the writing.

She made out a few lines. It was an account of a Railroad Agent who had died during the march to Sanctuary. Ann recognized the name and felt a surprising pang of loss. Piper was describing the way her comrades had bid farewell and the few words they had been able to say to her. It was a sober narrative, but a noble one, and Ann found herself feeling an odd kinship with the rest of the Railroad simply for having known her. That had been happening more and more, lately, and she found she rather liked the feeling.

Piper had also sketched something in the corner. It looked like a building. It was an unremarkable little thing, save for the unmistakable signage in the door. What looked like tiny neon lights spelled out Publick Occurrences in elegant letters. Just beside it, a small mat in front of the door read simply ‘Welcome’.

Well, Ann knew what was on Piper’s mind, and she truly could not blame her. Piper, meanwhile, had noticed Ann’s snooping and shifted a little farther away. “Hey, it’s five caps per issue, and I already have an editor.”

Ann nearly laughed, imagining Nat eviscerating Piper’s work and telling her to do it all again, before she remembered what the Mayor had done to her. She grimaced. Nat never should have been involved in all this. She should have been safe. Ann should have kept her safe. She could have warned Piper sooner or even gone to Diamond City herself when she had learned about the fat monster.

“Sorry,” Ann said easily, hoping to draw the conversation away from Piper’s loss. “Wouldn’t want to cut in on the territory.”

“Neither would I,” Piper chuckled. “She’s got a mean streak a mile wide. Honestly, if she were here now, she’d be beating me over the head about this.” She again tapped the notepad. “Writing about the dead when the living need help. Those idiots in the Upper Stands will be shitting themselves about now.”

Ann did not doubt it. The Publick had always touched hearts and minds, for better or worse, inside Diamond City and far beyond the Wall. Even the Institute had said as much. Now there was an odd memory. Her briefing on Piper Wright was a bit hazy but she could still remember the highlights. When she thought back to it, it was like they were talking about another woman, half-lunatic, half-dragon, and sprinkled liberally with a fearless, provocative charm.

They were not far wrong. Ann smiled widely. “I’ll bet they wish they had the Publick back now. Maybe you should send them a letter. I’ll bet they miss you.”

“I’ve earned a vacation, haven’t I?” Piper whined.

“I’ll say,” Ann shifted and looked vaguely in the city’s direction.

Piper sighed and scratched her pen against the page. “It’s just as well. If I were at home, I would have to try and write something about the Mayor.” She scribbled for a moment longer before noticing Ann’s silence. “Not like that. Even if I’d like to string his pudgy ass from the scoreboard, I know what needs to be said, and Piper the angry sister doesn’t need more publicity. The problem is I don’t know how to say it.”

“What do you mean?”

“Well, right now I’d say Diamond City is well on its way to a good old smash-and-grab riot. The Institute infiltrated the city – no, the government. Suddenly, everyone who’s ever been put in lockup is going to be up in arms. How much of Security can they trust? Are there more Synths? Are those new neighbors Synths? And what about the poor bastard that tries to be Mayor next? His first campaign speech will probably end in his autopsy. Can’t be too careful with these crafty Institute types.”

Ann watched as Piper kept scribbling. “And you could stop all that?”

“The press,” Piper corrected. “Could stop all that. People need to know that they haven’t lost anything, they’ve won. They’re still here, McDonough isn’t. They survived the Institute. They’re probably safer now than they ever have been and now they have a chance to make a real life for themselves. Someone just needs to keep them from tearing the Wall down in panic.”

Her pen danced along the corner of the pad, where Ann had seen the little drawing of the house. Saving the world was not the only reason Piper wanted to go home. As Ann thought about Piper’s words, about how badly she wanted to be there to keep her home safe, what kept coming to mind was not the Wall or even Publick Occurrences, but the hospital. Little Natalie would be all alone. What if she woke up and the whole city had vanished? What would happen to her if she walked out the door and found every hovel burned, the Wall fallen in, and her home looted and empty?

Ann nearly stood up and bolted for the horizon before Piper spoke up again. She was laughing. “It’s poetic, isn’t it? The great journalist of the Commonwealth having to sit out on the biggest story of her life? If Nat wakes up before I put something into print, poor Nora’s going to be a widow all over again.”

So she was thinking about her. Of course she was. Piper loved her little sister more than the whole world. So why was she so calm? Ann fidgeted and squirmed and looked for the right words to ask. She did not want to make Piper panic by asking too bluntly and gushing all over the woman was likely to end in her catching a bullet. But she really did want to gush, even just a little. She was still in love with Piper, and it had nothing to do with how flattering she could make even that bulky trench coat look. She was so strong, so brave in the face of everything, and so madly devoted to doing the right thing no matter how much it hurt.

She was exactly who Ann wanted to be. Ann looked away toward the rolling clouds. “I think Nat’s just going to be happy to see you again.”

Piper stopped scratching. “You clearly don’t know my sister,” she said, trying to sound flippant. But Ann heard the little hitch in her breathing, the way her voice trembled just a little. She was terrified.

“I know she’s brave, just like her sister. She wanted to save you and when she wakes up, there’s nothing in the world she’ll want to see more than you. She’ll just want to know that you’re safe.”

Her voice now shook openly. “And I’m not going to be there for her. I’m going to be stuck here or in the Institute or dead under a rock because –“

“You’re going to be there,” Ann said firmly, wanting more than anything to hold Piper as she went through this. “We’re going to get you home. Nora is going to get you home. Do you think she’d miss seeing Nat open her eyes? When all this started, when the Institute was asking her about you and Publick Occurrences, she wouldn’t stop talking about this strange little girl.”

Piper sniffed and croaked a small laugh. “You’re joking.”

Ann smiled. “I’m completely serious. The interviewer had to keep telling her ‘but what about Piper?’ And she would go back and say something and then ten seconds later we’d be hearing about the girl’s favorite color of chalk.”

Another choking, sobbing laugh broke from Piper’s throat. She rubbed a sleeve across her eyes and sniffed. She was not crying, of course. No one would ever believe that Piper Wright had gone to pieces. But how many would believe, or could even understand, how deeply Piper cared for her little sister?

“Thanks,” she croaked, her voice cracking and going back to its old, musical self. “Sort of a weird way to cheer someone up, but thanks.”

Ann had to laugh at that. “Sorry. Bad parenting, I think. I really didn’t turn out very well.”

Piper tapped her pen on the paper and traced another, delicate line in the corner. “You turned out fine. Considering your parents,” she shook her head. “You did more than fine, Ann.” She paused for a moment, looking toward the Interceptor. “Rita is very lucky to have you.”

She hoped that was the truth. That girl deserved better than Ann, the washed-up Synth who could not even save herself. How was she supposed to save someone else?

“I think someone’s looking for you,” Piper said, jarring Ann away from her thoughts.

A very familiar, very unhappy figure was standing in the shadows just across the street. Ann went rigid as Nora pointed at her. “Oh fuck,” Ann heard herself whisper.

“Relax,” Piper said, waving. “She’s not going to kill you. She looks… Um, I actually don’t know. But you should go see her. I think something’s wrong.”

“Yeah, she isn’t trying to kill me,” Ann said, getting to her feet.

“Be nice,” Piper admonished, pointing her pen at Ann. She hesitated, biting her lip as Ann walked by. “Thanks. For coming by.”

Ann nodded and shrugged and wondered if that little talk was to be her epitaph. If so, she could think of nothing better. If anything was to adorn her final resting place, she wanted it to be the knowledge that she had not completely destroyed the life of Piper Wright.

 

Ann followed Nora into one of the abandoned buildings, not quite sure if she should have updated her will before doing so. She may have been trying to do better but Nora might have decided that was too much work. It was a conclusion Ann had drawn several times already, so it was not as though she could blame the woman.

As they passed into the shade, Nora began fidgeting uncomfortably. Ann took her time in entering what was left of the living room. The kitchen had been crushed under the weight of the collapsed roof and light now streamed through the gaping wound. It was a wonderfully sad sight to Ann’s eyes.

“I need you to do something for me.”

Ann halted in mid-step as surely as if she had walked in to a wall. “You what?”

Nora turned, her eyes dangerously annoyed. “I don’t like it either but you’re the only one here who’s actually going to listen when I tell you so quit gaping at me and pay attention.”

If she had been gaping, she was not anymore. Her lips turned down in an offended scowl even as she tried to take the high road. “What do you need me to do?”

“When the Interceptor is finished, I’m going into the Institute, and the minute I do, I think they’re going to know about it. We both know how that’s going to end, don’t we?”

Ann’s scowl deepened. She did know. “You don’t think we can hold them off?”

“No.”

Even if the lack of faith in the Railroad surprised her, Ann shared her belief, something that was almost as frightening as what was coming for them. She frowned. “Me either.”

Nora appeared no more pleased with their common ground. “Good. I know you’ll want to get Rita out. They’ll probably be coming for the both of you, anyway, so I would understand if you wanted to get her away from here.”

Her voice was strangely soft. Did Nora care about Rita? Even after Rita had stood up to her? But then, who could resist the living symbol of Synthetic innocence? Ann nodded but did not speak.

“I’m going to be the first one through. I’m going into the Institute and I’m going alone. I can handle whatever’s inside and if Tom is right, the Interceptor will only work once, anyway.” Nora paused to take a deep, uncomfortable breath. “I need you to keep Piper from following me. I need you to… I need you to keep her safe.”

Just a few days ago, Ann would have cackled and danced at how painful this must have been for Nora. Now she could only stare in disbelief.

“Don’t give me that look,” Nora growled. “Can you do it or not?”

Ann, finding her voice at last, shook her head. “Why me?”

She expected Nora to give her a death glare or to storm out in frustration or even to hit her. Nora gave Ann a deeply pained look, one that almost made Ann feel sorry for her. “Because you’re the only one here who _can_ keep her safe.”

Nora looked toward the boarded-up window. Ann looked with her. She could just make out the red of Piper’s coat through the cracks in the boards. She could not imagine how much this was hurting Nora, and even as part of her made sweet love to the moment, she had been spending too much time around Rita, and she felt unwanted pity for her more fortunate twin.

“You have no idea how fucking painful that is to say,” Nora rasped. “But there it is. I can ask Glory or Des to look out for her but they’re not as good as you and I’ll bet they’re not nearly as motivated. I know you still love her. So I’m asking you to look out for her.” She turned back and Ann could swear the air between them froze. “And so help me God, if she gets hurt or if you let her follow me…”

She did not need to finish. Ann nodded. “Yeah,” she said. “I’ll keep her safe.”

Nora did not look any happier. She looked the way she always did; like the whole world was on her shoulders. “Thank you.”

Ann should have been saying something. She just nodded again, suddenly unsure of what she was supposed to say next. This was not how conversations with Nora went. No one was in danger of being shot. This was not normal.

Nora peered out the windows again and, somehow, her shoulders slumped with the weight of another load. “What was it like?” she asked quietly. “When you saw Rita being Recalled?”

Now someone was in danger of being shot. Ann was gritting her teeth and getting ready to snap at Nora’s neck when she noticed the woman was not goading her. She still looked so worn-down by it all. Her eyes were still on the street outside, the lines around them now pronounced. She looked like she had not slept in years.

Ann again followed her gaze. People were gathering at the bridge, waving at someone coming over the bridge. “Horrible,” she said, wondering where to even begin. “Helpless. When they dragged her into that room, I…”

“You would have done anything to stop it. But you couldn’t. You couldn’t save her.” Nora turned her eyes on Ann. “I’m sorry.”

The words should have caved in the roof. Ann stood, uncomprehending. “Why?”

“Because I know how that feels,” Nora said, those heavy eyes wandering back to the bridge once more. “And even you don’t deserve that. No one does. Knowing that no matter how hard you fight, no matter how hard you beat against the glass, it’s never going to break.”

Ann swallowed hard and looked away. “It was my fault.”

“I know,” Nora whispered. “But that’s something we have to live with, you and I.” Ann looked up and saw Nora smile. Just a little twitch of her lips, but it was enough to finish knocking away whatever sense remained in Ann’s head. “So, what do you say we go make someone pay for it?”

Nora began walking toward the door as a stupefied Ann turned to follow her out. “What are you talking about?”

“When was the last time you saw clothes that clean?”

Still trying to recover from her world being turned upside down, Ann had left the room and was halfway to the bridge by the time the words began to make sense. Nora had slung her rifle over her shoulder and was walking into the crowd with steps so heavy they should have left craters. Ann walked to the edge of the group and looked around. The Railroad had gathered around another survivor and were greeting him with handshakes and offers of drinks. He was in the middle of telling his story and everyone was enthralled in his exploits. He did not notice Nora weaving her way through the crowd.

The stranger finished one part of the tale and the crowd laughed as one. They were happy, overjoyed even. All of them but Nora.

Nora spoke up through the laughter. “Where’s your Geiger counter?”

The man laughed. “Very funny. I was a little busy trying not to die to keep track of it.”

The laughter died on a note. The crowd began to shift back, their bewildered eyes going from Nora to the stranger and back again. A few probably began to notice what Nora had seen the moment he walked across the bridge. His clothes were clean. Not as clean as those in the Institute, but they had not spent years in the dirt.

Nora asked again. “Where’s your Geiger counter?”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” the man said, his eyes darting to the crowd that now began reaching for their weapons.

There was no victory in Nora’s eyes. Only exhaustion. Ann watched as the Synth realized his game was up. He glared at Nora and snarled. “You thought you could hide here? You thought you could run? You’re trapped here. When I don’t come back, they’ll send every Courser in the Institute to burn this place to the ground. You’re all going to die here.”

Nora’s pistol left its holster without a sound. “Maybe,” she said evenly. There was a sharp pop, and the Synth fell dead. Several people jumped back as a grenade rolled from his hand. Ann nearly fell flat before realizing that Nora had shot him even before he had pulled the pin. Nora lowered her pistol and stared at the corpse. “But it’s going to be for a very pretty girl.”

Someone next to Ann groaned. “Great, we’re gonna die because Agent Jackass wants to get laid.”

No one laughed. Ann watched as Nora holstered her sidearm and turned toward the crowd. “Break’s over. The Institute knows we’re here and you can bet they aren’t happy about it. They’re coming to get us, so let’s make sure we’re ready to meet them. Find a hole and get comfortable. Tourists, find an Agent, they’ll get you sorted out. Get to know your neighbors. Agents, if you need an assignment, find me. And someone go find Des.”

Ann watched as Nora plowed through the milling crowd. Agents began barking at wide-eyed Tourists and getting them into lines. Nora walked right up to Ann and growled. “Do I need to tell you what you’ll be doing?”

She shook her head. “I’ve got a spot in that building. There’s a piece-of-shit turret that I can babysit.”

“Good,” Nora looked back up the hill and her eyes softened. Ann looked back to see Piper standing in the sunlight at the top of the hill, worry plain on her face. “Just remember. You keep her safe. No matter what happens, you keep her safe. Do you understand?”

Ann looked back to see Nora’s eyes still soft, almost pleading. She nodded. “I will.”


	15. The Eleventh Hour

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Rita finds Ann during the night

Sanctuary had lost its shine. Out There had intruded, and now this last piece of sanity, their last place of safety the world, was threatened by the vast darkness that lurked beyond the hills. They seemed more ominous, like the Institute was hiding in every shadow or digging under every mound of earth. That would suit them, popping out of the ground under the Railroad’s feet.

They echoed now with the gunshots of Railroad soldiers zeroing their rifles on distant targets. Logs exploded, barrels sparked in the water, and a very unfortunate Brahmin that wandered into view quickly joined the shooting gallery. On the hilltop itself, men and women made themselves ready for the inevitable. No one knew exactly when the Institute would strike, but everyone seemed to agree that it was going to happen tonight. Ann was one of those who agreed. The Institute was not known for its patience.

Ann wandered from building to building, always finding a reason to walk through the science lab to see Rita. She seemed oblivious to it all, engrossed in her work with Tom. They were so excited, chattering in loud, happy voices about whether the other had remembered to carry the one. Tom always tried to shoo her away but Rita was just as quick. She was always there for Ann, telling her she would see her soon. She was always smiling. If this was how it was supposed to end, Ann wanted to remember her like this.

She kept reminding herself that this was not the end. Rita would not want her thinking that way, and neither would anyone else for that matter. Nora would use the Interceptor, she would get inside the Institute, open the way for the Railroad, and they would end it all in one stroke. Ann was no general, but she was distinctly uncomfortable staking everything on one card. Sure, Nora was a terror, but this was the Institute. A Deathclaw was a terrifying thing, but an army of Coursers almost defied description.

Ann’s thoughts continued to circle the drain as the sun itself fled from the world. It knew the Institute was coming and it did not want to stick around to see what happened. She spent a few hours near the bridge trying in vain to work the last kinks out of her favorite turret before retiring to her quarters. Closing the door, Ann crossed the small room and settled into the bed.

Rita had been right about one thing, Ann realized as she pulled the blanket around her. The Railroad did love her. She had no idea why and she almost wished they did not, but there it was. They had given her a room of her own. She had a bed, one of the only blankets they had scavenged, and something that had once been a pillow. They had even taken the time to hang black curtains over the windows to blot out the light. She had a door that closed and a roof over her head. She probably could have stayed in here day and night and no one would have disturbed her.

The door creaked. Ann reached for her rifle, nearly toppling out of bed before the smallest voice whispered “Sorry! It’s just me!”

Ann laughed softly. “Rita? You scared me to death. What are you doing here?”

Not that she really cared. She could have been here to collect Ann’s blood in a jar and she would have asked her to stay for dinner. Rita smiled shyly. “I tried to find you earlier but didn’t want to bother you. You seemed busy, so I thought I’d just see you later.”

“You couldn’t bother me if you tried,” Ann said, wondering how in the world the Institute had ever made something so innocent. “What is it?”

“No, it’s nothing,” Rita shook her head, suddenly looking over her shoulder for a way out. “I didn’t mean to wake you up. I can come back in the morning.”

Ann got up, fully intending to drag Rita through the door. “I was already awake. Come on, Rita. You can talk to me. I actually wanted to see you, too.”

“Oh,” Rita blushed in the moonlight. “Um, well, good. It’s nothing bad, I promise. I just really wanted to talk to you.”

Ann sat back on the bed, letting Rita slowly close the door behind her. “What is it? You sound worried.”

Rita crossed the room hesitantly. “I know I shouldn’t be worried. I’m not scared about tonight. Not really, anyway. I know you’ll save us. You and Piper and Nora. The Institute won’t stand a chance against you.”

The girl’s blinding optimism should have turned night to day. It was now Ann’s turn to blush. “That’s all thanks to you and Tom. We wouldn’t have a way in without you.”

That heart-melting smile tugged at Rita’s freckles. “I know. Tom’s a genius. It was really fun, trying to work out all the Institute secrets,” she said, tugging idly at her fingers. “I wish you could have been there. But I know you were busy with keeping everyone safe. And keeping me away from Tom.”

Ann smiled and watched Rita shuffle. “Are you sure you’re not worried? It’s okay if you are, Rita. I am, too. No one’s ever done anything like this before.”

She shook her head. “I’m really not. Of course I’m nervous and I’m scared because I don’t want you to get hurt but that’s it. I know we’ll have tomorrow together once this is all over. Right?”

Ann reached up and took Rita’s hand. “That’s right. We’ll have tomorrow.”

Those gleaming blue eyes found Ann’s. “I’m glad. Really. I can’t think of anything I want more.”

Her heart felt like it was going to burst. With one hand gently holding Rita’s, Ann gripped the blanket with white knuckles. She wanted so badly to do something for her, to give her something back for being so sweet and caring and just the best person Ann had ever met in her life.

“So,” Ann asked with a smile. “Did you just come in here to make me blush?”

Rita laughed quietly. “You say that like it’s nothing.” Her voice trailed off and she looked down at the floorboards. Ann watched in agony as the moment slipped away. Something was wrong.

“What is it?”

There was another long pause as Rita visibly struggled with her words. “I didn’t want to bother you. I’ve been having them for months and I thought I could deal with them on my own. No one else needed to know about them. You had more important stuff to do than listen to me talk about my dreams.”

Ann edged a little closer. “You’ve been having dreams?”

“Nightmares,” Rita said, her voice beginning to tremble as she sat down beside Ann. “They’re always the same. I’m being dragged into a bright room by people in dark clothes. I ask them why they’re doing this and they don’t answer. There’s a chair and as soon as I see it I get so scared I start panicking. I know it’s bad but I don’t know why. I know I can’t let them put me in it because I’ll die. Except I won’t die. It’ll be something worse.”

Ann let go of Rita’s hand, now cold and clammy, and wrapped the blanket around her shoulders, pulling the girl in as though Ann’s presence could keep the monsters away. She wished it could. She wished even more that the monsters had not already gotten her. Of all the horrible things Ann had done in her life, this was the worst. She had failed to save Rita, and she could never make it right.

“It’s okay, Rita,” Ann murmured into her hair.

“No, it’s not,” Rita mumbled back. “That really happened, didn’t it? I was doing something wrong and they took my memories away. That’s what Patriot said. Doesn’t that bother you? You gave me a name and now I’m completely different. I’m not the same person you met in the Institute. The same one that you saved. And I want to be.”

Even as her heart broke, Ann wanted to laugh. “Rita, you’re still you. Even if you don’t remember, nothing in the world could change who you are. You’re still sweet and brave and brilliant. Just look at what you’ve done since they hurt you. You saved me. You helped the Railroad so many times and now you’re going to help make sure the Institute never hurts anyone again. You’re a hero, Rita.”

The red and black hair washing over Ann’s shoulder started to shuffle. “You mean that?”

“Of course I do. No one else could stay in the same room as Tom for so long. And you even stood up to Nora for me. I still can’t believe you did that.”

Her head tilted up, eyes shining through locks of hair and the slightest smile playing on her lips. “It was easy. I had you there with me.”

“Well,” Ann said, smiling fondly as heat began creeping into her cheeks. She did not do very well with flattery. “Then you have nothing to worry about, do you? You’ll always be you. And I’ll always be there for you.”

Rita smiled back and brushed the last of the tears from her eyes. “I know,” she whispered. “That’s why I came here. I know I’m safe with you.”

She felt her cheeks turning bright red. What had she done to deserve this? “Okay. Uh, the bed is pretty small so I can curl up on the floor if you’d like. Or go outside. I should probably be out there anyway. There’s a lot of, um, stuff I should be doing. Probably.”

Rita leaned down on her elbow, still smiling in the dark. “It’s not that small.”

With her hands gently tugging Ann down toward the bed, Rita made herself as comfortable as possible, pulling Ann almost on top of her. There was no blood left in Ann’s body. All of it had rushed to her head. She probably would have died if Rita’s closeness was not keeping her so warm. She felt her leg slip between Rita’s as her hand landed on her waist. This was not happening. It could not happen. Not to her.

Then there was nothing. Only Rita. Only her lips meeting Ann’s, so carefully, warmly, gently. Everything that Rita was and Ann could never be. It was too perfect, the kind of thing that happened to someone else. The kind of thing that only happened when Ann stole it. It did not belong to her.

Ann felt herself fall a bit further into the bed. She felt Rita’s hand slide along the curve of her side. She wanted this. More than anything, she wanted this.

She lost herself in Rita’s touch, her taste and her smell threatening to drive her mad. There was nothing in the world she wanted more than to be with her. There was nothing in the world she wanted more than to love her. That was what Rita deserved. Love. Unconditional, unwavering love.

_And someone better than you should be giving her that._

Her lips stopped moving. She felt Rita lean closer, felt her lower lip as it was gently tugged by Rita’s careful kisses. She felt herself be pulled, and she did nothing. She should have been kissing her back. She should have been showing the sweet, perfect girl that had saved her life how much she loved her. Rita deserved to know how much Ann cared about her.

_She deserves better than you. Better than Piper’s sloppy seconds. Or was your time with Piper not enough? Was stealing her away not enough for you?_

It was Nora’s voice. Ann tried so hard to drive it away. Rita was lying there, staring up at her, wondering what she had done wrong. This was not how it was supposed to end. Nora had forgiven her. Piper had forgiven her. Rita…

_Rita doesn’t remember. That’s why she cares about you. She doesn’t know. She would never forgive you if she knew._

“Ann?”

Rita’s voice trembled as it broke the stillness. “I’m sorry,” Ann whispered.

She felt Rita’s hands move, their touch still so tender and caring. “Why? Did I do something wrong?”

“No, no,” Ann felt herself rolling to the side, away from Rita but still so close that she begged for another chance to touch her. “It’s me. You’re perfect.”

Rita would have given her another chance. That was what she did. She would have smiled and giggled and nibbled at Ann’s lips as she kissed her. Ann knew it as surely as she knew she was not meant for Rita. There was someone better out there for her. Someone perfect. The furthest thing from Ann was what Rita deserved.

She was so confused, lying there in the starlight. Ann stared at Rita and Rita stared back, hurt and alone. “I’m sorry,” Ann whispered again.

Rita tried to smile. “It’s okay. I shouldn’t have done it.”

Ann moved to brush the hair from Rita’s face. She wanted to tell her it was all right, that she had done nothing wrong. She was just in love with the wrong woman. But no words came out, and her hand stopped before it could touch a single hair on her innocent head.

Rita shifted and rolled toward her. “Is it okay if I stay here?” she asked slowly. “Or should I go? I should probably go, shouldn’t I?”

“No,” Ann grasped at her and tried not to sound as desperate as she felt. “Please. Don’t.”

Poor Rita just blinked. Slowly but surely, her smile came back. It always would, no matter who hurt her. “Okay.”

Ann pulled her closer, feeling how carefully Rita’s arms moved as they tangled themselves around Ann’s shoulders. Her hair tickled at Ann’s shoulder as the smaller woman tried to settle in closer. Ann just closed her eyes. She was so damn stupid. She should have just kissed her. How hard would it have been to just kiss her? Ann might not have deserved her love but Rita surely deserved to be loved.

“Thank you,” Rita mumbled as she laid her head on Ann’s chest.

The warm, tingling breaths washing over Ann’s skin were more than distracting. She felt her breathing catch as she tried to ask “What for?”

Those little breaths came in a rush as Rita giggled. “For keeping the nightmares away.”


	16. Heat

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Piper and Nora spend the night together

It was the little things that most distracted Nora that night. After that Synth had tried to blow himself up on the bridge, Nora had found herself occupied with the most mundane of tasks. She finished excavating a few more holes, helped fortify a few more machine gun nests near the river bank, and a dozen other small things that kept her away from Piper Wright.

Even now as she crept through the silent home, the floorboards creaking at her every step, she wondered if there was more she should be doing. This was selfish. Seeing Piper tonight would not help win the war tomorrow. It was small and weak and it might very well turn into their last night together. All because she could not say no to the girl in the press cap.

She climbed the stairs in silence, listening to someone on the street pad off toward the front. No one else was taking their ease tonight. Des and Glory would not be found curled up together in the basement. There was not time for that and they knew it.

The door groaned and moaned like something out of a haunted house. Nora wondered, even as she saw Piper silhouetted in silver moonlight, if this was going to be the last time she saw her. It would be fitting. A few doors over, she had said goodbye to her old family, even if she had not realized it at the time. She had dressed Shaun for the last time, shoved Nate away from the mirror for the last time, watched the news for the last time, made plans for the last time.

That was why she made no plans now. If there was to be nothing after this, then maybe she would feel no worse when the end came. If it all came crashing down on her, at least Piper would be safe. At least they would have these last moments together.

Piper was staring out the window. She said nothing as Nora walked up beside her, letting the door swing shut as though it could keep the world away. The journalist was wearing her usual armor; nothing more than a red trench coat and a few good pens. It was almost inspiring. The power of the press would keep her safe, just like she kept the world safe. It was her words that had gotten them here, her bravery and her character. No one else’s.

Nora watched the world for a moment, more because Piper was watching it than for any other reason. What was going on in that head of hers as she watched the stars dance back and forth over ripples in the lake? Was she trying to peer over that last rise in the land, into the hills beyond Sanctuary? Was she, like Nora, wondering how much easier it would have been to just pack Nat up on a Brahmin and leave the Commonwealth forever?

Or how much easier it would have been to stay in Diamond City? The world outside was vast and dead, the whole horizon consisting of different shades of sun-beaten brown. They had a home. They should have been grateful, should have spent more time together.

Piper turned first. Without a word, she slipped on hand into Nora’s, her fingers gentle in their strength. Something had grown out of this blasted nothingness. Something beautiful and uncommonly perfect even for a world untouched by nuclear fire.

Her eyes were louder than her voice. _Will I see you again? I’m so tired of asking that question. We’ve been here so many times and every time I worry more._

Nora slipped her hand firmly into Piper’s. This would be the last time. She promised. This would be the end of the Institute, the end of everything, and after this, the world would know to leave them alone.

The trench coat fell away as Nora pulled at the buttons. Piper backed toward the bed. Her hand clasped Nora’s neck and her fingers tangled themselves in her hair. As their lips met, she asked more questions. _Do you blame me? Should I have stayed at home and kept silent?_

Her cap fell to the floor. No. Piper Wright was not silent when things were wrong. She was not a person, not really. She was the press. She was the one bright light burning against the dark as it beat against the door. She was the one person fighting the fire as the whole world burned down.

If that meant Nora could only know her for a moment, then it was enough. If she could only know her long enough to fall in love, then it was enough.

Nora’s coat fell to the floor beside Piper’s. Piper pulled Nora down to the bed, pressing close as her hands grasped and pushed Nora’s shirt over her eyes. When her lips moved down her chest, Nora tried to answer. She tried to reassure Piper that she would be there for her tomorrow and for every day after that. They would have everything.

She tried to promise, but her words were stolen away by her lover’s attentions. Piper was not interested in promises of tomorrow. She would give Nora everything here and now. She kissed her way down Nora’s stomach, her fingers finding little places to grasp at Nora’s belt. After that, Nora saw no more, the only thing keeping her sane the feeling of her teeth biting at her lips.

When the world returned in a sharp rush of color that left her gasping, Nora felt Piper’s lips on hers again. There were so many more questions, so many more promises. Family. That was what it was all for. Nora had always wanted a family. She had wanted one so badly she had stayed with Nate. She had not hated him, in fact she had loved him more than she had loved anyone before, but there had always been something off, something that had told her this was not her family.

She took Piper by the waist, carefully lying her down on the bed. She was perfect like this. In everything she did, really. She was loud and pushy and could drive you to the point of madness, but she was perfect. Nora had always wanted a hero in her life. She had just never expected to actually find one.

Piper pulled Nora down to her again. Whatever they would have said, whatever Nora wanted to tell her, was lost in the moment. Nora’s hands began tracing their way along Piper’s body. She needed no words for this. Piper was soon just as lost as Nora had been, just as consumed by everything Nora felt for her. That was what she hoped, at least. She hoped that, as Piper shuddered and fell limply into Nora’s embrace, she at least felt safe. Loved.

Her eyes flickered open, lazily focusing on Nora as a smile tugged at her lips. Nora could not think of anything more beautiful in the whole world. She wondered if she had ever really appreciated it before tonight.

Piper’s smile widened as two fingers fiddled gently with Nora’s ear. “Come back to me,” she whispered.

Nora could only smile back. “I will. I promise.”

They spent the last of the quiet hours together. In one way or another, in few words and in many, they tried so hard to say everything they had forgotten. All those moments they had meant to cherish were brought out again one last time, as though just talking about them could bring them back and drive the night away.

But the night would not be ignored. Rain began to patter on the roof. Nora pulled her jacket tight and said one last goodbye to Piper before vanishing into the dark. The drops was cold and sharp, washing away whatever feelings of home remained on Nora’s skin and leaving her more naked than before. She found a spot to shelter near the bridge and settled down to wait.

Water began to pool in the foxholes. Men shivered and pulled their cloaks tighter or their hats lower. Some smoked inside the walls, careful to keep the light from leaking through the windows. Somewhere a dog was howling. It was the only sound besides the rain.

In silence, the Railroad watched the hills. They watched as the lightning began to flash, and they waited for the thunder that never came.


	17. Lightning Without Thunder

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Institute attacks Sanctuary

The first Synth infiltrator crept over the bridge just after midnight. Nora had watched her Pip-Boy as much as the world outside, wondering if it would have been better to just stay with Piper, before deciding this was the right choice. She had to fight, not just for herself or Piper or even Ann and Rita, but because it was the right thing to do.

And because Piper would never let it go if she gave up.

That first figure scampered quickly over the bridge, scuttling behind cover on the Railroad’s side of the line. A moment later, another crept into view. Then two more after that.

Soldiers shifted in their positions. Rifles clattered quietly as they were fidgeted this way and that. A few started to hiss and curse, wondering what the hell was taking so long. Still Nora waited.

From the far side of the bridge came a low rumble. Synth boots began thumping against the wooden planks. A flurry of shadows began loping over the bridge. Someone behind Nora started whispering “Now. Now. Now.” Over and over he whispered until it became as monotonous as the boots.

Then she heard it. From the bridge came a deeper rumble, the sound of treads on creaking planks. Red lights blinked into view as the first Sentry Bot rolled toward the Railroad defenses. Nora reached down, took firm hold of the firing switch, and shoved.

The roar was deafening. A blinding flash ripped through the night, knocking men and Synths alike to the ground. The explosives strapped to the supports detonated and the bridge disappeared in a huge pillar of flame, along with anything unfortunate enough to be standing on top of it. Bits of wood and rock came raining down all around them, pinging off the rooftops like hailstones.

Nora shielded her eyes and peered out of the building. There, silhouetted against the flame, was the Sentry Bot, hanging lazily in the air as it turned over and over. Mesmerized, Nora watched it tumble end over end until it slammed into the ground with an almighty crash. One of the arms came peeling toward the house, intent on wringing the neck of whoever had killed its body.

As the disembodied arm struck the ground a dozen feet from Nora’s window, the Railroad opened fire. The Synths still on this side of the bridge were cut to pieces. Most were still turned around, watching the explosion almost impassively. Most toppled before they knew what was killing them. Others were literally blown apart, chopped into sparking bits of metal by so many bullets striking them at once. Not one raised a weapon.

No sooner had the debris stopped falling than Synths on the far side charged the banks of the little moat, spraying the buildings with laser fire and splashing into the murky depths. Most vanished from sight, dragged to the bottom by heavy equipment and only sometimes managing to scramble ashore once again. Others found shallows, plodding slowly across the river as bullets splashed and zipped all around them. Nora emptied her rifle on the advancing horde, its reliable, almost reassuring reports nearly drowned out by the battle din. A dozen other rifles crackled from her shelter. Sheets of metal, so carefully camouflaged during the previous weeks, were ripped down to expose turrets. There was no shortage of targets and soon their thunderous bursts joined the cacophony.

Across the road, where Ann was taking shelter, machine gun nests began pouring fire down the banks. The Synths were coming over closer to their positions, having found more success in navigating the shallows from one bank to the other. A few Synths had already splashed across, but those that did were promptly bowled over by rifle fire or blown skyward by mines sown in thick fields near the beach. Ann’s turret, to Nora’s mild amusement, fired twice before falling silent. When the sound of pounding metal crossed the road, she was fairly certain she knew what the Synth was up to.

Nora watched as another Sentry Bot charged headlong into the river. It got about halfway across before bogging down, drawing the fire of every soldier on the front as it spun its wheels and spat bullets up the slope. It did not take long for a Railroad heavy on the roof of Nora’s building to drop a well-aimed rocket on its head.

Wheeling along the far bank, another Sentry refused to enter the river, instead trying to cover its comrades’ advance from the far shore. Sparks flew from the metal barricades and stray rounds bounced off every surface imaginable but the monster was too far away to be decisive. If the Institute wanted to win the battle, they would need to cross the river.

Many Synths were trying to do just that but with the storm of bullets now sweeping the narrow avenue of advance, very few were fortunate enough even to make the far shore. Nora scanned her scope over the exposed targets, passing up the hordes of easy pickings that were surely dead no matter what she did. She searched for Coursers or for Synths who looked important. When she found them, they did not last long.

As Synth bodies began clogging the river, some began striking back. Laser fire began pouring from the far bank as a mounted laser minigun spooled up and began raking the house where Ann was hiding. Nora fired back, dropping the gunner and stopping the barrage. A moment later it was back in action, the next Synth setting up behind it without so much as clearing the body away. It was a grotesque sight. The inhumanity of it all made her squirm.

The good and evil struggle had always been there, of course, but the scene of unimaginable carnage made it more pronounced. This was why Ann had been able to do the horrible things she did. This was why Rita had been so eager to run. This was how they treated them, how they raised them, and how they viewed Synthetic life on the grand stage of the world. Nora should have cut Ann more slack. Her parents really were awful.

As she was picking off the next gunner and poking at the minigun in hopes of bringing it out of action, a Synth with a long tube made shore. Nora finished her work and began to reload. She was helpless when the first rocket came screaming up the slope. She watched in horror as it spiraled toward her window, then abruptly changed course. It spun crazily, howling up the road and into the dark. A moment later came the blast.

Nora looked over her shoulder. She heard the splinter of wood and could see a flame kindling in the dark just up the street. Her home was burning. The rocket had struck the roof, caving in the room she had shared with Nate so long ago and setting the house ablaze. It would not be long now. Soon there would be nothing left of Shaun’s crib, and even less of the little touches Piper had so lovingly given the old room.

She turned in time to see the Synth lose a leg, tumbling to the ground before being split in half by scything fire from a nearby turret.

So. This was how the world ended. Nora shouldered her rifle and put one last round in the still-crawling Synth. That was fine by her.

 

Ann had never actually been taught how to curse and never in her life had it shown more. The constant stream of disconnected profanities left her feeling ridiculous even as it satisfied her fuming ire. Those around her seemed more amused than afraid of her and she had half a mind to teach them a lesson the same way she was teaching this lousy turret.

Just as she had predicted, the damned thing had fired two bullets before jamming. Now it was nothing more than a glorified bit of cover. Before Ann had fired two shots of her own she had been reduced to breaking the thing open and searching for the problem. Bits of casing lay on the floor around her as she stuck her hands into the oily, rusted grime, her cursing never slowing even as she worked. Bullets whizzed and popped all around, punctuated more often by the ominous crackle of laser fire.

She found the problem soon enough. The firing lever, the one small shaft of metal that connected all the smart targeting cards and sensor arrays to the actual machine gun, had snapped clean in half. Ann’s cursing redoubled. It was not like she had a pile of spares lying around.

Using moves she shamelessly appropriated from Nora, she kicked, beat, and pried the metal casing away, soon leaving her with a pile of circuits and a belt-fed automatic weapon. It had no sights and no stock, but if Nora could use it to save the world, Ann could damn well use it to save the day. She even managed to get the tripod free without breaking anything, giving her a place to mount the thing. See? If Nora could do it, she could do it better.

Mounting the gun back in the window, she laid the belt out beside her, propped the back of the weapon against her shoulder, and squeezed the trigger. Against all odds, it actually fired, its short burst singing out to join the rest of the Railroad’s chorus. She gleefully fired again, blowing apart a Synth halfway across the river.

She waved a few Railroad auxiliaries toward the weapon. She grabbed the closest by his jacket and pulled him down to take control of the trigger. “Keep it on the river! Call me if it jams!”

It was not like he needed the instruction but he barked a prompt “Yes, ma’am!” anyway.

Ann skittered away as the gun resumed firing. There was a spot on the roof she wanted to take up. Institute machine gunners were harassing the Railroad positions and if she could just get a clear line of sight, she could do something about it. More than that, if she could find herself a nice missile launcher, she could do something about those Sentry Bots on the far shore.

She had not gotten to the stairs before the sky turned red. The gunfire drowned out any noise as the deep glow seeped through the cracks in the walls. At first she thought an Assaultron had gotten through. In her terror, she nearly bolted for the Interceptor, her mind already conjuring up images of Rita being hunted through the labs by merciless machines.

The truth was soon plain. Where the river ran shallow, between Sanctuary and the Vault where Nora had emerged so long ago, there was now a sheet of flame. Gasoline stores scavenged from the nearby Red Rocket had all been dumped in huge oil drums. When the Institute attacked, the drums had been pushed over to flood the bottom of the valley. Glory, in a truly odd stroke of symbolism, had insisted the fire be lit by throwing a lantern. Whether that had actually worked or not seemed immaterial. Whatever had started the blaze, flames now towered over the buildings of Sanctuary, lighting the battlefield like it was midday.

Ann smirked but her heart was not in it. The Institute had the strength to attack from both sides. It was an appalling scene. From here, Ann could see the bodies beginning to pile up in the river. Over there a Synth lost his head to a grenade fragment. The body kept going, sloshing all the way to shore before toppling over and finally going still. She felt like screaming “Turn around! Turn around, and let us save you!”

But no words came out. Just a deep, primeval sound of abject hopelessness. Even as they chopped Synth after Synth to sparking pieces, more and more lightning strikes could be seen just over the horizon. The Institute had numbers on its side, and it intended to use that advantage to its fullest.

Ann picked her way back to the roof and settled in with a high-powered rifle, lying prone and pressing her eye to the scope. There was not much she wanted to see on the far shore. Her brothers and sisters queuing up for slaughter held little appeal for her and she soon found herself searching for something to ease her upset stomach. The Sentry Bot milling around behind the bridge drew her attention. She decided to test the quality of the beast’s armor in what might have been called its head. The glass cracked after the first two shots and the third shattered it completely. A moment later it trundled to a halt, brain dead and now partially blocking the road.

She used up her last round on some other poor Synth and went to reload. What would Rita say about all this? She had been kind enough to include even Coursers in her compassionate quest to save the world. Would she have included Sentry Bots as well?

Whatever her thoughts on it, Ann was just glad she was inside, safe both from the battle and from the sight of so much wanton destruction. Ann spared another glance for the wall of fire. A few Synths were staggering through the blaze, their metal frames turned to the stuff of nightmares as they came out the far side. Most wandered in circles or stared up at the sky. None of them fired at the Railroad, leaving the poor souls watching with the awful task of putting them out of their misery. 

This was the war, it seemed, the war that would see all Synths free or leave the Institute master of all it surveyed. Ann settled down behind her rifle and began scanning for targets. It went on like this for what seemed like an eternity. She had laid out her magazines along the edge of the roof and had nearly run out by the time something jerked her from her sniping. From downstairs, she heard the machine gun stop firing. Someone started shouting for her.

Well, if this was the war, then Ann would be damn sure to win it, if only so there would never be another. There would never be another Recall. Piper Wright could go home to her sister. Even Nora would be happier for it.

Ann nearly tripped on the stairs. _Oh no. No no no no. Nora. Nora is going into the Institute. She’s going to meet Father._

And Ann had not warned her. She had no idea what she was walking in to. Ann had to stop her. Ann had to be the one going inside, not Nora. Even if it was not horribly wrong and unfair, the whole battle might depend on it. It had to be Ann.

Down the stairs she sprinted, colliding with one of the Railroad machine gunners. “Ma’am! The gun –“

Ann shoved him aside and ran for the silent, smoking weapon. Two of the gunners, alive just a moment before, were slumped in the corner, laser burns covering their chests. She tried not to look at them, focusing on ripping off the casing and clearing away whatever had stopped the weapon from firing.

Someone screamed outside. Ann looked up to see something big and black hit the side of the house and slump to the ground. She barely had time to reach for her pistol before the Courser was in the door, its rifle blazing. Ann’s weapon came up, barking furiously as blue death passed close enough to make her hair stand on end. The Courser crumpled to the floor, its gun silenced.

She tossed her own gun to the ground, slapping the case back onto the machine gun. “Okay, you’re good!”

But she was shouting to dead men. The last of the gun crew now lay beside her, close enough to reach out and touch, killed by the Courser. A black shadow passed over the doorway. Ann again fumbled for her gun, diving to the side and knowing she was dead.

Someone in red tumbled through the opening, silhouetted by blue fire. “Ann?”

“Piper!”

“What the hell is going on?” Piper scuttled up beside Ann, avoiding the bodies now lying almost everywhere. “There are Coursers everywhere!”

Ann began setting the gun back on its tripod and wondered if she would be the next one killed behind it. “I know. Is Rita all right? Have you seen her?”

“She’s still holed up with Tom. No one’s gotten through yet and Des is on the door. I think Glory’s there, too. Have you seen Nora?”

Fuck, she still needed to find Nora. “No. I think she’s across the road.”

Another rocket howled up the street between them, blowing the top of the building across the road into the street. The building that was supposed to be housing Nora. Piper swore. “This is fucking insane.”

“You’re telling me,” Ann said, feeding a new belt of ammunition into the gun. “Remember the good old days?”

“We had good old days?”

“Better than this. I’d take rescuing Nora over this any day.”

Piper groaned. “Don’t put it like that. You’ll get me all sentimental.”

Ann set the gun and looked back at Piper. “Isn’t that why you came?” Before Piper could answer, Ann fired a short burst into the river. “Look, I hate sending you out there, but I need someone else here manning this gun. Can you do that?”

Piper was already on her feet. “Got it! See you soon!”

“And find Nora!” Ann shouted over a horribly-timed burst of gunfire.

Into the night went Piper, just as ignorant as Nora of what was about to happen. Only Ann could stop it. She should have stopped it days ago.

“But I’m stuck here!” Ann began scything the river with gunfire, taking her hatred out on the oncoming Synths. “Entertaining you fuckers! I hope you’re happy!”

Not long after Piper left, another crew of Railroad soldiers scampered through the door. Three of them took the gun from Ann while another two held the doorway. Ann got to her feet and sprinted out the door. This was it. She had to find Nora.

The white flash of yet another missile zipped just a few yards in front of Ann’s face. This one curled up and to the right, striking the top of the building where Tom had hidden the Interceptor. To Ann’s horror, two of the steel panels came flying clean off, exposing to all the world the radar dish Rita had so lovingly crafted. This was all happening too fast. She was supposed to have more time.

Ann ducked her head and ran, a storm of singing bullets and hissing lasers just above her head. It seemed impossible that she survived crossing the road but she did, plowing through the broken door and into the building with an ungraceful dive. Coursers had attacked this building, too, the bodies of two of them still crumpled in the doorway. Each one had been killed with a single shot to the head and it did not take much effort to determine who had killed them.

A Railroad Agent had stationed herself near the door, her rifle poking through a hole in the wall. Ann scuttled over to her. “Where’s Nora?”

The woman jerked her head back toward the road. “Went to the Interceptor! Miss Wright just came and grabbed her!” She turned, flashing a grin that exposed blood seeping between her teeth and down the length of her chin. “Fine night to end the war, isn’t it?”

Ann tried not to stare at the mortally-wounded woman too long. The changing light from the still-burning trench now played off what was left of the human being. Fishing in her pocket for a Stimpack, she took hold of the woman’s shoulder. “Damn right it is, Agent. Hold still,” she ordered as she pushed the syringe into the back of her neck.

Her head was a mess. Blood was covering her face in such a thick film that Ann wondered how she could see anything at all. Something dark and wet was pooling on her chest. The Agent shook her head, something that made Ann cringe just watching, and wiped a bit of the red from her eyes. “Thanks, ma’am,” the woman mumbled.

Ann did not say it, but it was the least she could do for a dying woman. “Keep up the fight, Agent. You’re doing great.”

Without looking back, Ann chose the hellfire of the street over watching this poor woman’s last moments. She was weak like that. She would take any personal risk that kept her from watching another soul in pain. Seeing someone suffer on her behalf was beyond her capacity to understand. It made her uncomfortable just thinking about. That woman could have had a life, a family, and a future all her own.

Back through the street Ann went, keeping as low as she could while trying to run faster than she ever had. Nora could not get to the Institute. Everything would go wrong if she went in first. It had to be Ann. Or Glory or Des but it could not be Nora.

Ann felt something heavy strike her in the back just as she reached the door. She smelled burning leather and felt a dull, wet sensation in her shoulder. She pushed herself up with one arm and kept going. She had to stop this.

She forced herself inside, passed the bodies of two Railroad Agents that had fallen almost on top of a Courser. There was shouting inside. Flashes of blue electricity that might have been the Interceptor or might have been Coursers executing Rita.

Around the last bend came Ann, emerging into the science lab. Rita was in the far corner, bent over a set of controls and furiously adjusting dials. Tom was nowhere to be seen. Ann staggered into the room in time to hear the voice of Desdemona.

“Whatever it takes!” she shouted. “Do you understand me?”

Nora was shouting back. “Whatever it takes! I’ll get it done, ma’am, don’t worry!”

There she was. Nora, standing in the center of a lightning storm, her hair flying madly in all directions, was about to go inside the Institute. Des was outside the maelstrom, shouting to be heard over the exploding current. Ann pushed herself forward. She had to stop this.

“Wait!”

Both women turned. Nora’s eyes widened. “Ann? What the hell are you doing here?”

Ann opened her mouth to shout. “You can’t –“

Rita screamed. Ann turned to see her vanish in a shower of sparks. Piper shouted for her. Somewhere Tom was telling everyone this was normal and everything was fine. No one was listening.

More laser fire erupted from the hallway. Piper had appeared from nowhere, hunched over Rita as she sheltered from the explosions and firing wildly down the hallway. Ann looked from Nora to Rita and back again. She had to do something.

She was too late. The Interceptor whined, more sparks flew, and Nora vanished in a flash of blue light. Ann stared in horror. She had been too late. Now Nora was going to meet Father. Their one chance to destroy the Institute and they had sent Nora.

Piper was shouting at her. Ann could not hear a word she was saying but Des seemed to hear just fine. “She’s right, we have to go! Now!”

Rita crawled her way out from under the banks of exploding equipment and ran with Piper toward the door. Ann followed, turning in time to watch Desdemona dragging Tom toward the door by his suspenders. He was screaming something about all his hard work going up in flames. Des was not answering, most likely because it was true in a very literal sense.

Another explosion rocked the building, collapsing the roof and crushing what was left of the Interceptor’s main platform, the place Nora had been standing just a moment before. That was it, then. She had failed. When it had mattered most, she had failed.

Ann dragged herself toward the door. Maybe Nora could do it. If anyone could pull this off, it was Nora. No matter who was standing in her way. She could do it. Ann just had to keep Piper safe for her. She had promised she would, and that was something she could still do.


	18. Father

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Nora enters the Institute

Nora tumbled to the ground, coughing and completely blind. Her head felt like it had been ripped in half. All she felt was cold metal on her knees and elbows. She strained to hear anything at all that might tell her where she had landed but could not make anything out over the intense ringing that had left her partially deaf.

When her hand bumped her rifle, she remembered it all in a rush. She was in the Institute. She was deep behind enemy lines without hope of support or evacuation. It had seemed a wonderful idea at the time but she had blithely assumed she would have command of her senses during the expedition. As it turned out, teleportation was hard on the eyes, ears, and just about everything else, too. No wonder only Synths made trips to the surface.

Her eyes began to adjust as she pulled her weapon closer and rolled herself into a crouch. The room was empty. Barren walls and too-clean floors greeted her, their waxy surfaces bouncing light in unreal ways that did not belong in this world. Nora blinked and scrubbed at her eyes for a moment before getting to her feet.

She was not alone. “Do not be alarmed.”

Nora, more than a little alarmed, spun toward the voice and raised her weapon. It was a pointless exercise. At the end of the room stood a Courser, his weapon in plain view but pointed at the floor. The message was obvious. If he had wanted Nora dead, they would not be having this conversation.

There went the great Railroad sneak attack. “Who are you?”

“That is unimportant,” the Courser droned, his voice unnervingly emotionless. She had been around Ann and Rita too long. “What is important is that you are here and that you are unhurt. That is correct, is it not? If you feel unwell, I have been instructed to provide you with medical attention. However, should you feel able, my instructions are to take you directly to Father.”

“I’m fine,” Nora answered, more by rote than by honest assessment. She still felt like someone had bludgeoned her with a tire iron but she was not about to tell Codsworth’s angry cousin she wanted an Aspirin. “Who is this Father?”

“He leads the Institute,” the Courser said, its voice still lifeless. “He has requested your presence at your earliest possible convenience.”

There was a daddy joke in there somewhere, but Nora was too off-balance to find it. With a great deal of discomfort, she held out her rifle.

The Courser did not even blink. “You may keep your weapons. Please, follow me.”

There was nothing in the world Nora wanted less. She had suffered horribly in Machson’s care and the thought of walking willingly into another ordeal was making her hands shake. If it came to it, if they tried to take her away and lock her up again, she was not sure she could do it. She felt the weight of her sidearm resting on her hip. She could do it. She would, rather than go through that again.

Even if it meant destroying Piper. Nora tried to smile. Piper Wright had always deserved someone better than her. She would understand.

The Institute was not what Nora had expected. The first rooms had all looked the same as those in Machson’s facility. It had been enough to make her skin crawl. When they had come to the elevator and started descending deeper into the earth, Nora was convinced she would never get out of here alive.

But Ann had been right. In all her stories, she had mentioned the water, and now Nora found herself staring open-mouthed at the display. It was like finding a five-star hotel in the middle of the desert. An oasis amidst the nuclear fallout. The last gem of humanity. There were trees, there were children playing, there was even a dog lounging near one of the pools.

“This is incredible,” Nora said, pressing her hands against the glass of the elevator.

“Father will be pleased to hear that,” the Courser droned. “He has talked for some time of your arrival.”

Nora turned. Beneath the monotonous and probably scripted speech was the reason she had really come down here. “Has he?” she asked. “You’re close with him, I take it.”

“I am his bodyguard,” the Courser replied, its tone evincing the slightest hint of pride. “I am entrusted with his personal safety and as such I hear things that few others are privileged enough to know.”

“I’m impressed,” Nora said, looking around at the Institute and hoping the Synth took both the compliment and the bait. “Running a place like this must be tiring. Especially with those above ground intent on fighting back.”

The Synth should have said something incriminating, revealing some weakness she could have used against Father when they met. But Nora was not Piper, and her tongue was not quite made of silver.

“Father knows what is best for the Institute.”

There was nothing for it but to ride the elevator in silence. When the doors opened, the sound of rushing water overtook Nora’s senses. The sight of children playing captured her once again, taking her back to a time before the bombs. Just minutes ago, she had been watching Synths chopped to pieces by the hundreds. She had watched her friends die in front of her, killed by an enemy they never should have been fighting. No one in that battle had wanted it. No one still fighting in the town of Sanctuary really wanted to kill anyone else. They all just wanted to live.

The people here had set that town on fire, and Nora reminded herself of that over and over as they walked. They had hurt Nat. They had hurt Piper. They had taken Nora herself prisoner, torturing her and almost driving her mad.

Nora followed her guide up an enormous spiral staircase built from stone so clean she could have eaten off it. Lights seemed to burn from the walls themselves and the small island of plant life at the center of the room was preternaturally green. No Synths cleaned the floors or opened panels in the walls. If there were any guards or custodians about, they had been dismissed for Nora’s arrival.

They were near the end of the stairs when they stopped in front of a massive set of double doors. The Synth turned back to Nora. “He is waiting for you.”

With a small nod, Nora stepped toward the doors and pushed them open. She had failed to gain anything useful out of him. Now she was walking into the most important confrontation of her life, a conversation on which hung the lives of all her friends and family. She wished Piper were here instead of her. She probably would have been on a first name basis with the stoic Synth, known his tragic history with his mother and father, and have invited him over for his favorite meal.

The doors closed behind her without a sound. At the far end of the room, in front of a huge glass window, stood an old man. Nora walked toward him, into the center of the room, and stopped.

The man turned, and she felt the breath leave her lungs. “Shaun.”

Her son staggered, his beautiful, innocent eyes going so wide, just like they had when his father had made his nose disappear. Just like when he had first seen his mobile spinning over his crib. “You – how? How did you know?”

Nora had to laugh. “It’s your eyes. How could I forget them? I see them every night. Bright and beautiful. They haven’t changed at all.”

Shaun took a step toward her. He looked about to fall over. Nora felt herself starting to well up. “You’ve grown up so much.”

He laughed. “Yes. Yes, I suppose I have. I didn’t think you’d recognize me. It’s been so long.”

“Of course I would recognize you. Every day I thought about finding you, imagining how it would finally happen when I did,” she said, her steps slow and measured as though she were in a dream. She reached out one tentative hand, brushing the side of his whiskered cheek. He was real. She felt herself laughing again. “I just never thought it would be like this.”

“I know,” Shaun’s voice rasped softly. “But I am glad you found your way here.”

“I wish your father could have been here. He would have loved to see you like this,” Nora said, her hand straightening bits of her son’s coat. Her son the scientist. Her son the successful head of the Institute.

Something nagged at her. The Institute. Nora looked up at her son, at the man who was responsible for so much wrong in the world. This could not be him. Not little Shaun. Not her son. She felt herself start to pull away but she refused. This was her son.

Shaun had noticed her confusion. “I’m sure you have so many questions.”

She did. She felt all of them bubbling up at once but her throat closed and only the oldest words were spoken. “Why did they do this? Your father – he just wanted to protect you.”

Pain washed over Shaun’s haggard features. “I know. For so long, I blamed the Institute for his death. I think part of me still does. Nothing I say can truly explain what happened, but they needed me. They needed a child, one untouched by radiation.”

“But why did they take you?” Nora pleaded. “Couldn’t they have taken all of us? We would have gone anywhere for you. And we would have been a family. Would that have been so wrong?”

“The Institute did what it had to do,” Shaun said quietly. “They needed a backup. We were an experiment to them, and not just any experiment, one of their most important ones. We could not be just a family. When I was told about it, I was convinced it was the greatest injustice ever committed.” He paused, looking into Nora’s eyes so plaintively. “But it was the right thing to do. I wish it could have been different, but no, this was the only way.”

_But you were my son._ She did not say it, but she felt it pulling at her heart until it threatened to bring her to her knees.

Shaun’s hand came to rest on her shoulder. “But it’s all right, now. You’re here. You’re safe.”

A pained smile crossed Nora’s face. Even in all this, he was such a good son, taking care of his poor mother like this.

Somewhere, a part of her was screaming. Flashes of blue and white seemed to pop out of the corners of the room. She heard her friends dying, saw them clutching themselves in agony as everything turned red. She saw Piper falling through the door, tripping over the body of a boy who could not have been more than sixteen. All the fire, all the screaming, all the senseless death, and it was all her son.

“Tell me you’ve stopped it.”

Shaun looked puzzled. “What are you talking about?”

“The battle. Sanctuary. My friends are up there. Piper – you have to call it off. Please.”

Her son looked almost weary that she was asking and Nora had the sudden urge to shake some respect into him. She may have been lost in time for most of his life, but she was still his mother. “I cannot do that. Not now.”

“Shaun,” she took a step closer to her estranged son. She had to believe this was all a misunderstanding. Shaun could never order such a horrible thing. “Please. If you won’t stop then let me go back. I have to help them.”

“You would go back?” Shaun took a step back, dumbfounded.

“They’re my friends and they’re going to die up there. You have no idea how bad it is. If you won’t stop the attack, then let me get back to the fight. If you won’t help them, let me save them.”

She could hardly believe she was having to say this but the words were all but pouring from her now. The thought of Piper being hunted through burning buildings, of some Courser finally trapping her inside a smoke-filled room and leaving her to burn to death, was more than she could stand. She had to get back. Whatever it took, she had to stop this insanity.

Shaun was silent for a long moment. “Very well,” he said, a tired smile overtaking his face. “I will tell them to stop.”

Nora felt herself collapse in relief. “Thank you. Thank you, Shaun.”

She felt herself start to smile again. Things were not so bad. Her son was still a good man. He had to be. If he was evil, he never would have agreed to save Piper and the rest. They could still work this out. She could still save everyone.

Shaun sighed. “It will be a difficult thing to do, but I will see it is carried out. The Board will not look kindly on it, I can say that much for certain. They are quite keen on getting their missing Synths back.”

Ann and Rita had been all but forgotten in Nora’s mind. Even with everything happening, she had to ask the obvious question. “Why do you want them back so badly?”

“Well, besides the fact that one of them is your duplicate, it is something for which we bear responsibility in the Institute. All Synths are our children, and we must care for them accordingly.”

The sentiment was so bizarre Nora could not even manage a laugh. She had seen the bodies floating in the water. Had her son done that? “Care for them? Shaun, do you even know what’s happening up there? How many Synths are dying every minute?”

“I do. I can’t imagine how it must look to someone from outside the Institute, but please believe me when I tell you that it is necessary.”

“Necessary?” Nora echoed. “Why? I’ve met them. I’ve talked to them. They’re just like us, Shaun. They just want to be treated with respect.”

“Even the one who replaced you? Would a human being so callously steal the life of someone they had never met?”

“Clearly you haven’t been above ground in a long time,” Nora said, her tone growing sharp in disbelief. “She was only doing what she was told. Don’t stand there and tell me she was wrong when she only had the Institute for guidance. If you had told her that her life’s purpose was to help others, what do you suppose she would have done?”

Shaun’s eyes began to widen. “That’s a very forgiving view but it does not change what Synths are. They are tools, intelligent robots, nothing more. The fact that they are more familiar to look at than your Mr. Handys only creates the mental bridge we have tried so hard to cultivate. Yes, they are like humans, but they are not human.”

Defending Ann held no real appeal for Nora but someone had to stand up for them. This was wrong. And it was her son who was behind it all. She still could not believe that. “Shaun –“

“Please,” he held up one hand in surrender. “This is my fault. I understand that this is all strange and new to you. You must be tired from your ordeal, not just from the fighting but from everything you’ve been through since waking up in the Vault. You should get some rest. Take all the time you need. Live for as long as you’d like here in the Institute. I promise that, after you live beside them, you will understand exactly what a Synth is, and why it is so very different from a human life.”

The thought of sleep proved more of a siren call than anything Nora had ever experienced. Well, almost everything. “Shaun. I need you to promise me that you won’t attack the Railroad again. And,” she paused, a lump forming in her throat. “There’s a woman with them. Piper. I need to know that she’s okay.”

“Ah,” Shaun said, an unreadable smile coming over his face. “I’ve heard a lot about her. She must be quite an extraordinary person.”

_You have no idea._ “She’s everything to me. The only family I thought I had left. I promised her I’d come back. I thought the three of us could be family again,” Nora looked at her son, now aged enough to be her father. “I just need to know that she’s safe.”

Shaun smiled warmly. “Of course. If she is important to you, then she will have the full protection of the Institute. However, I cannot guarantee her safety if she continues to fight with these Railroad insurgents.”

The full protection of the Institute. Now there was an irony Piper would surely fail to appreciate. “I know. Thank you.”

“We will keep an eye out for her. Should we find her in need of help, we will bring her here,” Shaun gestured for Nora to accompany him toward the door. “And even if we do not, perhaps she will join you here of her own accord. Once you see the truth of the Institute, I have no doubt you will choose to remain with us. You and your friend will be safe here, far safer than you would be in Diamond City.”

The day Piper set foot in the Institute was the day Nora ate her scarf but the gesture was a kind one. Nora turned with her son and started to leave. “Thank you. Please, let me know the moment you hear anything. I should get back to her, if that’s possible. Would that be all right?”

“I’m afraid your little magic trick has temporarily damaged our ability to send people in and out of the Institute. Once we have it resolved, I will do what I can to grant you unlimited access to the facility.” There was a pause as they exited the room and began climbing the stairs once more. “Unfortunately, it may be more complicated than just asking for permission. But that is for later. For now, it is enough that you are safe. Piper will be safe, you have my word. You should try to rest.”

Nora followed her son deeper into the underground city. He showed her to her quarters, an undistinguished bit of real estate if ever there was one. At least it was quiet. There was a little radio lodged in the wall that could pick up Diamond City broadcasts and a very soft bed for Nora to rest her head on. She really was tired. This was all too much.

Even as she lay down, her head felt like it was spinning. She could not sleep for fear of Piper but neither could she stay awake after the strain of the last few months. Here she was, inside the Institute, the place that had caused so much pain and death, and she was falling asleep on the most comfortable bed she had ever felt. There was a hot meal on her table – when had that gotten there? – and there were clean clothes waiting in her own private bathroom.

Her son was alive. He was head of the Institute and convinced Synths were nothing more than robots, but he was alive. And he had grown up so much. Whatever the differences between this and how she had imagined finding him, he was alive, and that should have been enough for any mother.

She closed her eyes. Sleep came to her but her thoughts refused to leave. She dreamed of Piper calling for help in the dark. She was back in Sanctuary, struggling through burning buildings and alleys choked with black smoke. Nora struggled through home after home, always pulled on by Piper’s voice but never able to find her.

When she finally woke, she spent far too much time standing in the shower, incapable even of appreciating running water. She had to do this. She had to try. If she did not try to save her son from the Institute, from what it had made of him, she was nothing. Nate would have wanted her to try. Any decent mother would try. _Whatever it takes._ Just like Desdemona had said. Whatever it took to save her family.


	19. Through Any Hardship

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ann deals with the aftermath of the battle at Sanctuary while Piper tries to make the most of Nora being gone. Father gives Nora a job.

Ann would never forget the rest of that night. She could still see it if she closed her eyes. She could see the flames cast long, brilliant sparks across the water as she staggered away from Sanctuary. The bravest men and women she had ever met stayed behind, trapped in those burning houses, firing wildly to keep the Institute at bay for just a few more seconds. They stayed behind as Ann splashed into the water, swimming with so many others for the far shore. She could hear them struggling all around her but could not see them when she raised her head. All she saw were stabbing sheets of blue that broke and boiled the water all around her.

She still was not sure how she had made it. The pain of her arm had nearly overcome her barely halfway across the lake. She had started to sink, her lungs filling with the putrid water that surrounded Sanctuary. Her arm hung limp at her side, useless and screaming.

Then Piper was there. Ann had felt her body lift up from the waves, heard the spluttering of another woman close beside her. Piper had grabbed her by the middle and was pulling her along through the water. Together they had crawled up onto dry land. Piper had dragged her up the beach as Ann pulled herself along, her arm still useless as it made tracks in the sand.

“Rita?” she had coughed, her first thought always for her own selfish wants.

Piper had grabbed her by the collar and pulled her to her feet. “I’ll find her! Just keep going!”

And she had. Even as bullets hissed and lasers searched the shore, catching the tired and the wounded as they struggled to safety, Piper ran straight into the storm. Ann had found herself a pile of brush to hide behind, waiting, stewing in her own anxieties. When Piper finally returned, the Institute had set the brush alight with stray fire. Rita had thrown herself on Ann the moment she saw her, an admittedly painful experience but one that Ann did not regret in the slightest.

Even as dawn began to break, the fight refused to end, and the Railroad had to keep running. When they found the edge of the city, Des and Glory picked out an empty building to make camp in. No one else was on their feet and thinking, so it was a lucky thing they did. Everyone else just slept where they fell; in doorways, in chairs, on windowsills. Ann had fallen into a heap somewhere away from the others.

She had woken up with Rita curled up beside her. The sun was already high in the sky and the light peering through the window had landed so perfectly on the poor girl. It was the one thing Ann wanted to remember. Rita, a little smile tugging at her lips and the wind running its jealous hands through her hair, curled up in the sun like a happy cat. Next to Ann, the last woman who ever could have deserved her. It was a sight that was almost beyond belief.

How long she had stayed there was anyone’s guess but it was not nearly long enough. Des had roused them with a few solemn words and a tired, knowing look that Ann found entirely inappropriate. They walked, tired, hungry, and hopeless, the sun beating their weary bodies as they tramped through the dust. Some just gave up. One man had turned to Ann in the middle of the march. “Well, I’ve had my share. It was a good fight, though, wasn’t it?”

He walked into a nearby building – a hospital, Ann thought – and she never saw him again. Before she had passed the end of the road, a gunshot had come from the old building. She had tried not to think about it. On and on it went, the heat threatening to sap what remained of Ann’s will to live, until Glory shoved the lot of them into another building.

So Ann flopped down on the floor and picked at her arm. The Stimpacks had helped immeasurably with the intense burns, rampant infection, and other exciting pains, but now the new skin itched like the devil and she could do nothing about it. She was not alone. Almost everyone had come out of that fight with new scars. Many were still recovering from the intense, psychological trauma that came with losing so many close friends. There was very little small talk among those staring off into space.

She did not even notice Rita come up behind her. Ann jumped as the girl’s hand came to rest on her shoulder. “Rita!” she yelped.

Rita stepped back, looking apologetic . “Sorry. I didn’t mean to scare you.”

Ann felt herself try to laugh but the sound died in her throat. “It’s all right. I’m just glad you’re safe.”

That ever-present smile got wider. “Thanks to you. And Piper.”

“Mostly Piper,” Ann admitted, shrugging the arm she had been scratching raw. “She saved me, too, you know. Carried me out of the water when I couldn’t swim anymore.”

“She’s amazing, isn’t she?” Rita settled in beside Ann, her arm absently brushing Ann’s. “She saved me from the Coursers when Nora used the Interceptor. And after that she saved me on the shore. There was so much happening. People were screaming and everyone was running. Then she found me and she brought me back to you.”

Ann was shaking her head. “She is amazing, all right.”

Only Piper Wright could pull off something like that. Well, Piper Wright or her loveable sidekick, Nora. The very woman Ann had failed so very recently. Now she was inside the Institute, meeting the son she had been looking for. Ann could not help but wonder how that reunion would go.

Far more important was Ann’s own survival. If Nora ever found her again, if she worked out that Ann had known exactly who Father was, poor Rita would have to find some other lucky girl to spend her days with. Maybe it would be Piper. Now there would be a good twist. And even Nora could not say no to both Piper and Rita, together, telling her to get lost because they were meant for each other.

Ann shook the thought from her mind. Now was not the time. “What’s going on? I haven’t seen you since that night. Are you doing all right? Someone found you breakfast, right? I think I can scrounge something up if you’re hungry.”

Rita giggled and made the whole room brighter. “No, no one found me any breakfast. But Piper did send something for you.”

Out of her pocket came a syringe of somewhat questionable cleanliness. Ann eyed it suspiciously. “And that is?”

“Something to help the pain,” Rita said as she scooted behind Ann.

The feeling of Rita’s fingers lifting the coat from Ann’s shoulders was enough to take all that pain away, syringe be damned. She was so careful as she let the jacket slide down Ann’s arm, exposing the skin now covered in goose bumps. Rita’s fingers traced their way along where Ann had been hit during the fight. Ann felt her heart skip a beat as Rita moved her shirt aside, the tingle of her attentions drifting along Ann’s shoulder blade.

“Is this okay?” Rita asked softly. “I can find someone else if you’re uncomfortable.”

Ann managed to shake her head. “No. This is fine.”

_Fine. Yes. Just fine. Not I-never-want-you-to-stop. Just fine._

There was a small, breathless laugh behind her. “Good. Okay. This might sting.”

The pinch of the needle was probably heightened by Ann’s intense desire to feel everything Rita was doing with her fingers but she did her best not to cringe. A moment later Rita pulled away, putting something soft over the place where she had been stuck.

“Better?”

Ann moved her shoulder experimentally. In truth, ever since Rita had shown up, she last thing she had been thinking about was scratching at her arm, so she told her the easy truth. “Yes.”

That happy smile was back as she settled against Ann’s side. “All right. Now how about finding me something to eat?”

It was Ann’s turn to laugh. “I’ll get right on it. I’m starved. If a Brahmin walked by right now, I doubt it would even make it to the fire.”

Few of the Railroad survivors had thought to pack a lunch before fleeing Sanctuary. The common practice was to chew Hubflower as a way to ward off hunger on the long march across the Commonwealth but it only helped so much. At the moment, Ann would have taken lightly-charred Bloatfly over the bitter taste of plant life. For Rita, she had no doubt everyone in the room would turn out their pockets looking for a pinch of salt to make it more bearable. After her work on the Interceptor, she had the lot of them wrapped around her little finger.

Not that Ann knew anything about that. Rita’s smile crinkled at the edges. “Did the Institute teach you no table manners?”

“Right, I forgot about that. Fork on the left, knife on the right, leave your coat and soul with the butler.”

Her little head tilted, her eyes sparkling in the gloom. “A soul?”

Ann stared at the conversational brick wall and wondered how to get around it. She took her usual route; dig a hole, climb in it, and bury herself with dirt. “Sorry. I shouldn’t make jokes on an empty stomach. Probably not on a full stomach either. Just sort of a bad idea all around.”

“No,” Rita shook her head, still staring so intently at Ann. “I’m glad you can make jokes about it. It makes it sound like it’s certain. Like you’d never doubt that we have one.”

“Why would I?”

“Well, not that you should go spreading this around, but the Institute built us,” Rita said, her eyes flickering just for a moment. “They made us. I don’t know what we are, but we aren’t born. Not like…”

Ann leaned in and put on a very concerned face. “Rita, you do know how babies are made, don’t you?”

In the vein of blind squirrels and broken clocks, Ann could occasionally make a pretty girl laugh. Rita looked stunned for a moment, then burst into a fit of giggling. Ann could not have been happier, though she did wonder if the poor girl was just suffering from heat stroke. No one in their right mind found Ann that funny. Eventually Rita managed a bubbling “I do.”

Ann, still concerned about Rita’s mental state, had surreptitiously undone the canteen from her belt. “My point,” she said, setting it down between them. “Is that nowhere in that mess does one of them hand the other a soul. And they know it. They just assume that it happens. Why shouldn’t we think the same thing?”

It made sense in Ann’s head, but whenever she tried to say it out loud, it all came out jumbled. As it turned out, she did not really have an argument for it that extended beyond ‘well, why not?’

But that seemed enough for Rita. “Sounds like you should do the talking when we meet all the Institute Synths. Once Nora comes back.”

Ann suddenly felt very ill. Rita, of course, noticed immediately and put a comforting hand on Ann’s leg. She looked up and met her eyes, too burdened by guilt to appreciate the soft touch of the kind and lovely girl sitting so close beside her. “I screwed up. It should have been me going back.”

“That’s ridiculous,” Rita said easily. “You already went once. You saved me, you gave them the Interceptor. There’s nothing wrong in letting someone else in on the last act.”

She meant well, but Ann knew better. “That’s not…” There were too many people sitting nearby for Ann to divulge Nora’s family history. “I’ll tell you later, okay?”

Rita looked unconvinced, probably still worried that Ann was beating herself up over nothing, but she did not press it.

Not that it would have mattered. A moment later, Piper strode in from the street, wiped a thin sheen of sweat from her forehead, and shuffled over to the two Synths. “Rita found you, I see.”

“Yeah, she did. Thanks for the drugs,” Ann quipped, rolling her shoulder for emphasis.

“You know me. Chem addiction is the one problem I don’t have. So, you’re feeling okay?”

Again, Ann nodded. “Thanks to you. I don’t know what I would have done if you weren’t there.”

Rita was nodding along beside her, the telltale glint of hero-worship shining from her eyes. “I don’t think any of us would be here without you.”

Piper shook her head and mopped more sweat from under her cap. “All in a day’s work. Just be sure to tell Nora I slaved night and day for her when she gets back. She’ll come back thinking she won the war all by herself and I’ll never hear the end of it.”

All Ann’s doubts seemed to melt away in the blinding light of Piper’s optimism. She knew Nora best. Maybe Ann was worrying over nothing. After all, Nora had already been taken by the Institute once, and that was under far worse circumstances than this. Piper had believed in her then, just as she believed in her now.

There were no doubts in Rita’s eyes, either. “Well, when she comes back, we’ll make sure she knows how you never worried at all.”

Piper gave a throaty chuckle. “Well, maybe not in those exact words. All right, fun’s over. Ann, you’re coming with me.”

“Why?” Ann asked even as she got to her feet to follow. She really wanted to stay and talk to Rita.

“Because you have more important things to do than chat up pretty girls,” Piper said, reading Ann’s mind and giving Rita an impish look. “Des wants to take us across the city and we need someone out front looking for bad guys. That’s you.”

“So just me against the world?”

“Glory will be there, too.”

That was actually more of a comfort than Ann wanted to admit. “Fine.”

She went to follow Piper out the door when Rita caught her gently by the arm. “Hey. Um,” she shuffled, her hand falling away and clutching awkwardly at her elbow. “About last night.”

Ann could feel everyone in the room start listening a little harder. Piper looked from one to the other but said nothing. She looked like she was waiting for Ann to do something. “It’s my fault,” Ann said as quietly as she could. “I never –“

“Ann,” Piper cut in sharply. “You can bring a friend but we need to go.”

The three of them left the room in silence, Rita’s eyes on the floor as Ann tried in vain to come up with something to say. When they found themselves in the midday sun, Piper turned around. “I’ll go talk to Des and tell her you’ll be there soon. We’re in the old office building about a block up the road.”

She gave Ann a dirty look before walking up the street, leaving her alone with Rita once again. Ann had to smile at the threat. It looked like she really would beat Ann senseless for hurting innocent little Rita. With a sigh, Ann turned back to the Railroad’s favorite Synth.

“Listen –“

Rita cut her off. “I shouldn’t have done anything. I know what happened. With you and Piper and Nora and I shouldn’t have tried to make you… I just shouldn’t have done anything.”

“No, no it wasn’t your fault,” Ann shook her head and reached out to physically stop Rita from making herself feel worse. “You didn’t do anything wrong. I should have told you what I was thinking last night.” Ann paused, remembering her most important experience that horrible night, the one that had underscored everything she had done from start to finish.

She moved closer to Rita, almost close enough to brush up against her. Almost close enough to kiss her. “I should have told you how much you mean to me. That whole night, I was terrified I would lose you and I’d never get another chance.”

Her eyes began to shine as they always did, only this time they were heavier, deeper, like seeing sunlight from the bottom of the ocean. “Well, I’m here now. And I’ll be here tonight.” She put one hand on Ann’s arm, her fingers playing with bits of her coat just above her elbow.

Whatever Ann had done to deserve the attentions of someone like Rita, she hoped to God she was doing it once a day and twice on Sunday. She could feel herself trying to say something clever but nothing was coming out.

Rita smiled, her fingers still pinching the folds of Ann’s jacket and making happy little circles on the skin beneath. “I don’t mind the wait.”

 

For all Shaun’s talk about the horrors of the surface, Nora was sure the Institute was no better place to raise a child. He was right in some things. The threat of Deathclaw attack was significantly lower than it was in Diamond City, which was nice, and all the amenities of home, such as clean water, hot food, and some semblance of privacy, could not be overlooked, but there was more to it. The Institute was just not a home.

One had only to walk the halls in order to get a sense of it. It felt more like a science lab than anything else, all the floors and tables polished to a shine not to impress dinner guests but to keep the environment sterile. The children here were an otherworldly addition. They were happy, playful, and out of place. They were tolerated, not loved. This was not their home, it was their Vault.

_If that Vault Tec salesman could see me now. What, a place in your Vault? No thanks, my son built one himself. ___

__The pride rang a bit tinny but it was still there. She so wanted to feel it fully, to know that her son had done so much good in his life. Surely he had tried. Surely he had believed that he was pursuing the greater good and saving humanity. That was what his father would have taught him. His mother would have taught him to wear a helmet and to save the world without skinning his knees._ _

__Nora tried to imagine the horror Piper would have visited on the young boy’s life. He would have idolized her, of course, following her to the ends of the earth just like her dear wife. The three of them, together, tackling the unnamable horrors that stalked the darkness, was an image that could not fail in making Nora smile. It brightened the whole hallway, bringing odd looks from the Synths going about their business._ _

__Shaun had requested her presence, sending his personal bodyguard by means of an escort. He had not demanded it, exactly, but when the Courser had not left Nora alone after delivering her son’s message, she had been left with little choice but to leave. Besides, it was not like she had anything else to do. Walking the Institute was not an inviting prospect._ _

__To be fair, not all of that was the Institute’s fault. Piper had probably colored it badly for poor Nora, leaving her with a lingering fear of being snatched and dissected. The fact that her last visit had ended much like that surely did not help either, but now she had Shaun to protect her. She should have been excited to explore. This was, as Piper would have said, her chance to learn the truth._ _

__But it was the Synths who kept Nora in her room. They all gave her the same, unpleasant looks. She was an imposter here. She did not belong. They all knew who she was and they were not impressed. Perhaps they saw her as the next oppressor, the one who had given Father life and, by extension, had architected all their accumulated miseries. More than that, she realized, was probably the unpleasant fact that they had seen her before. Ann had been here, walking the halls as free as a bird, representing everything they could achieve and everything they could strive for. And now, here was Nora. Just another human. A cheap knockoff._ _

__The odd thought occurred that Ann had gone through this every day on the surface. She had been seen only as Nora’s image, her lesser half whose only value was in imitation. It was unpleasant, uncomfortable, and Nora had not even gotten to shoot Ann first. If she ever saw her Synthetic duplicate again, she might have to buy her a drink._ _

__But she would still like to shoot her beforehand. Only a little. Nothing life-threatening, just a little pop in the foot._ _

__Shaun was waiting for her in the room where she had seen him again for the first time. She wondered if this was his office or even his private study. She could imagine him pacing, sheltering from the crushing responsibilities of saving the world. Her little boy, trying to fix everything gone wrong all by himself. Who was she to blame him if he had gotten a few bad ideas along the way? That was her fault. She should have been there to raise him. He had never had anyone to show him the right of things. It was something Nora would regret until the end of her days, and she knew it._ _

__“Shaun?” Nora called as she entered the room._ _

__Her son turned and smiled at her. He had his father’s smile. “Mother. Thank you for coming. I hope I wasn’t disturbing you.”_ _

__“Of course not,” she smiled broadly as she crossed the room. “I was just waiting on room service. I’m told you have excellent steak.”_ _

__Shaun laughed softly. “Should it suit you, I believe I could have that arranged. I’ll admit, I usually reserve the use of the Teleporter for more, uh, urgent matters, but being Father has its perks.”_ _

__And now he was offering to cater to her delicate, Wasteland-refined palette. There were still bits of his father left in him. He was still a good man. He had to be. “I think I’ll survive,” she said, coming up beside him and embracing him. “I haven’t had to eat RadRoach since coming down here. You’ve no idea how much my stomach thanks you.”_ _

__Her son gave her a very stilted, uncomfortable hug in return. She nearly laughed aloud. He tried so hard. “RadRoach,” he growled, his stomach audibly turning over. “I truly cannot believe you survived in all that. I wish that the Institute had taken all of us if only to have spared you that experience.”_ _

__If they had, her life would have lacked a particularly beautiful woman in a ragged red cap. She would never have even known about Piper Wright. She would never have known what she was missing, and there was a deep, abiding anxiety that came with that thought. What would Piper have done, Nora wondered, if the Vault Dweller had never picked a fight with her that day? Would the Institute have finally gotten her? Would Nora have feared the horrible woman if she had heard the stories?_ _

__“But I’m glad you’re here,” Shaun said, interrupting Nora’s train of faraway thoughts. “I have some good news.”_ _

__Nora’s spirits began to soar. She had not even broached the subject of Synth humanity since seeing her son again. Had he so quickly come around to her thinking? What about Piper? Had she agreed to visit? Was the whole war put on hold and everyone would take a moment to examine the meaning of humanity? Even as these thoughts rushed through her mind, part of her knew they were too bright-eyed for this world._ _

__“What is it?” she asked._ _

__“The Institute has agreed to let you stay indefinitely,” he said happily._ _

__Nora paused. She had considered that her living here would even be a question. Then again, she supposed it was nice to know that she would not be getting kicked out in the middle of the night. “Uh, thanks. I’m glad to hear that.”_ _

__She was a terrible mother. Her son could not have missed her obvious disappointment, and his smile quickly died. “Not the news you were hoping for, I know. Unfortunately, everything else is a bit grim, and I had hoped to at least show you a little kindness before I tell you the rest.”_ _

__Shaun moved to the window with ponderous strides, laying one hand on the glass. “I spoke to the Directorate. They are not convinced they should trust you. It’s not your fault. We had a visitor recently and, well, I’m sure you’re already well-acquainted with what she did here.”_ _

__Nora smirked. “Yes, we’ve met before.”_ _

__“Then you’ll understand why they feel they need assurances that you mean the Institute no harm. That you see Synths for what they are.” Her son’s shoulders drooped. He actually looked sad. Genuinely, truly sad that his friends did not like his mom. “I do not agree with their decision. They’re in no place to be making you jump through hoops like this.”_ _

__Seeing Shaun begin to shake his head, Nora stepped up beside him and put a hand on his shoulder. “It’s all right, Shaun. I’ve been through worse than this.”_ _

__In the long silence that followed, Nora was given plenty of opportunities to contemplate the folly of tempting fate. She felt her son tense under her touch and watched him stare unseeing out the window. “What do you know about Bunker Hill?”_ _

__Nora paused. “The memorial?”_ _

__“It’s still there. There seems to be a small settlement built up around it,” her son spoke slowly. He was building to something he knew she would not like. “There is a small group of Synths being sheltered there.”_ _

__There it was. Fate had wasted no time. Nora felt her mouth begin to go dry. “What does this have to do with me?”_ _

__“They want you to recapture these Synths,” Shaun said slowly. “You are to be a part of the retrieval operation. Once they see that you have the Institute’s best interests at heart, they will give you the trust you deserve.”_ _

__Nora stared, speechless. Her son said nothing for a time, the hairs on his head almost visibly turning whiter from the strain of it all. Even now, she could not help but feel sympathy for him._ _

__At length, he spoke again. “I know. It’s unfair and I would have you nowhere near this… this circus that we call Retention, but it is the only way. Even if it means putting you in danger, in the middle of a battle, no less, it seems they care not at all. They just want results. They want proof of loyalty, not words from someone they claim to trust.” He gave a derisive sniff. “Some of them think you’re still spying for the Railroad. They wanted me to interrogate you! My own mother! I told them you’d already experienced that kind of hospitality with that lunatic Machson. That got him to pipe down.”_ _

__The mention of Machson only derailed Nora’s thoughts even more. She had forgotten about him. Only now did she make the connection that he would have been working for her son during her torture._ _

__Before she could speak, Shaun continued. “I know this will be hard for you. You wanted the war to end.”_ _

__“Shaun,” Nora said quietly. “Is the Railroad there?”_ _

__There was a moment of terrible silence. “We aren’t sure.”_ _

__That was as good as a yes. Des and Glory would never leave these Synths undefended. Assuming they were even still alive. “You said there would be a battle. Who else do you think you will be fighting? The people of Bunker Hill? You wouldn’t put them in danger for this. Would you?”_ _

__“No, of course not,” Shaun answered quickly, turning away from the window. “My Synths will be under strict orders not to harm anyone who does not raise a hand against them. They are only there to retrieve the rogue Synths. Nothing more.”_ _

__Another horribly pause followed until Nora broke it. “But?”_ _

__“But our actions are so often misunderstood by the surface. They see our Synths coming and they assume we want to take them away. They fire at us, and what choice do we have but to defend ourselves?”_ _

__“Shaun, you can’t –“_ _

__“It isn’t up to me,” Shaun raised his hands in surrender, the expression thoroughly pronouncing his age. “I will do what I can and issue what orders I can to make this as painless as possible, but that is all. And you will be there, which may turn out to be a very good thing. If we are to make this work, both sides must come to an agreement, and that can only start with compromise.”_ _

__What compromise could there be when the Institute denied Synths the right to live? Nora wanted so badly to say it but could not make herself speak._ _

__Her son put a comforting hand on her shoulder. “Please. Just do this one thing for us. Bring the Synths home to us, or if you cannot do that, destroy them. They cannot fall into the wrong hands. They would only bring about more confusion, destruction, and death to so many innocent lives.”_ _

__Nora searched Shaun’s eyes for some semblance of regret. There was none. “So that’s it?” she asked. “Recall them or kill them?”_ _

__Shaun sighed. “I take no pleasure in doing this. It is simply what must be done. For the survival of us as a species, and for the survival of the Synths, this is how things must be.”_ _

__She wanted so badly to believe it was said out of humanity but still no trace of remorse showed in his expression. If he did regret what he was asking his mother to do, it was not out of pity for the Synths. He just wanted this to be over. He wanted Nora to accept the way things were and to stop taking such a sympathetic view of the life he had created._ _

__Forcing herself to do something besides just stand there, Nora managed a nod. “Okay. I’ll go.”_ _

__Her son smiled, the physical similarities with his father now cast in a perverse and unforgiving light. Nate never would have done this. “Thank you. I will make the arrangements and send for you when all is in readiness. Now, please, I have distracted you enough. Make full use of the Institute if the mood strikes you. Or, if you prefer, return to your room and get some rest. I will see where the kitchen staff is on that steak, yes?”_ _

__It took a moment for her to remember what he was even talking about. She smiled, turning away like a zombie and shuffling off to her room without a thought. All she could see was Rita’s face. Nora had been there when Rita had told her story. Not the first time, with Des and a few others, but with Glory. Just the three of them, one sharing a good ghost story with the others. Nora could still see the terror in Rita’s eyes. She said she did not remember anything about it, but when she thought back to it, when she tried to remember, her hands began to shake. Her eyes had turned white. It was the most pitiable sight Nora had ever seen. Sweet, innocent little Rita, gone out of her head in fear._ _

__That was it, then. This would be up to her. If the Institute got to them, if these rogue Synths fell into Courser hands, they would suffer a fate worse than death. Nora sat down on the bed and put her head in her hands. That could not happen. No matter what._ _


	20. Whatever It Takes

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Institute attacks Bunker Hill just as the Railroad arrives

The hair on Piper’s neck stood up as she scratched and scraped at the tiny hole she had made for herself. Lasers crackled impossibly close overhead, keeping her from doing much more than cursing at the oncoming Synths. She wished Nora was here. Nora would have known what to do. Nora would have mopped the floor with these clowns by now while Piper got to sit back and watch. And worry. That was all she did anymore. Worry over Nora. Worry over Nat. She had even started worrying over Rita.

More lasers prompted more worries. The Institute had not taken long to find them at Bunker Hill. Des claimed the Synths here had been hiding for weeks and should have been moved a long time ago. That was why the Institute had come. Not for the Railroad, not because Nora had been killed and the Institute was still on the march, but because of a coincidence. Bad luck. That was all.

A break in the fire let Piper hop to her feet, peeping over her barricade before peppering the scrambling chrome toasters with gunfire. Even as they dropped, they seemed to be ignoring her, intent on getting to the center of the settlement as quickly as possible. She had seen the same horrible sights at Sanctuary Hills. Piles of dead Synths floating in the stream, bits of metal and sparking gears blown apart in the minefield, and dozens more sprawled in the street. And the Institute never stopped coming.

From her place in the market, Piper could see almost nothing of the fighting. All she saw were Synths running through the main gate and spraying everyone around with blue fire. She knew Des was in the main hall with the Synths. Glory and Ann were somewhere around here, staying with Piper and the rest of the Agents who had survived the journey.

More angry blue lights sent Piper ducking back behind her shelter. She shouted and cursed and wished like hell she could stop worrying about Nora for five seconds. There were a very large number of very angry people trying very hard to kill her and all she could think about was her.

A spray of dirt caught Piper square in the face as Ann slid ungracefully into a position beside her. Piper sputtered. “Where’d you come from?”

“Main barricade,” Ann said, panting as she reloaded her rifle. “Lots of bad guys, not enough bullets. Starting to feel really familiar.”

Main barricade. Of course. “Is Rita okay?”

Ann nodded, wiping grime from her face with one sleeve. “She’s fine. Des has her up in the main building. They’ve got all the other Synths up there, the ones that were just trying to hide. Looks like we showed up just in time.”

It was hard to argue with that. “She’ll be fine. Des won’t let anything happen to her.”

“Who’s worried?” Ann asked. She was trying to sound flippant but not hard enough.

Piper understood that all too well. Ann leaned back against the barricade as more fire zipped overhead. “What about you? How are you holding up?”

As much as she wanted to complain, she was not sure this was the best time. “Never better,” Piper lied. “Legs are a bit cramped and I could use a Nuka Cherry, but I’m just fine.”

Ann chuckled. “Sorry. Fresh out of drinks. I’ll see if I can find something for you once this mess blows over.”

“Loving your confidence, Ann.”

“We’ve been through worse,” the Synth chirped as her brothers and sisters tried to murder her. “We’ll be laughing about this in no time. You and me and Rita. Nora, too.”

From the way she emphasized the last, it was obvious Piper was doing a poor job of hiding her feelings. She sighed, bent double to keep from being shot but still managing to stoop a little lower. “Yeah. All four of us. We’ll go out for noodles. It’ll be like a double date.”

“A really awkward, uncomfortable double date. With identical twins who hate each other.”

The metal sizzled as more shots made contact. Piper watched little pieces here and there begin to turn orange from the heat. She wondered how long it would take for it to just melt away, leaving them exposed to the full fury of the Synth fire. Would the wood combust first or would the metal begin to boil away before it caught fire? She was never much of a scientist.

And she was entirely too good at distracting herself. “She doesn’t hate you, Ann. She just… give her some time.”

“I thought I’d be telling you that,” Ann said ruefully.

“What, that she doesn’t hate me?”

Ann smiled kindly. “That you need to give her time.”

There was truth to that. Even Ann had faith in the invincible Vault Dweller. There was no reason for her to worry. This was what Nora did. Piper picked fights, Nora finished them. Just because this one was taking a little longer for her to finish, and just because Piper could not actually see Nora doing the fighting, and just because Nora was trying to tear down an evil empire with her bare hands did not mean she would fail. Piper had nothing to worry about. Nothing at all.

“You’re right,” Piper said, shaking her head in a vain attempt to clear it. “She just needs time.”

“Of course I’m right. Look at it this way. I’ve been to the Institute. I got out all right and I’m the off-brand version. Nora’s the real deal.”

Piper had to laugh. “Ah yes, one of the many names I wanted to give you; Nora Lite.”

Ann was grinning. “There’s that awful sense of humor.” She popped over the barricade and took a few pot shots at the running figures.

“Rita thinks I’m pretty funny,” Piper said innocently. “I love the thing she does with her lip after she giggles. You know the thing? This thing?”

Now back in the dirt with Piper, Ann tried in vain to hide the flush creeping up her neck. “Yeah, yeah I know the fucking thing.”

“I was keeping her entertained last night while you were making your rounds and I heard some very interesting things about you. She was asking me about you, actually, and I –”

“All right,” Ann shouted as she swapped magazines. “No double date for you. If anyone’s going to tell Rita how I feel, it won’t be… what’s happening?”

Piper looked around, suddenly realizing something. “It’s gone quiet.”

It had. Ann noticed, too, poking her head over their little wooden parapets to see what had happened. All the laser fire had ceased in a moment, like someone had thrown a switch. Piper looked over at the Synths now standing motionless in the sunlight. For a moment, her spirits soared. This had to be Nora. She must have found a way to stop them from fighting.

A moment later her hopes were crushed. A small group of figures emerged from the main building, picking their way over the dead Railroad defenders and moving into plain view. One of them was holding a white shirt and waving it around pathetically. Piper stared dumbly. Those were the Synths. What were they doing up there? The four haggard, beaten figures could have been mistaken for feral Ghouls but there was no mistaking the small, proud, indomitable figure of the woman leading them.

“Oh, Rita,” Ann whispered.

“No,” Piper muttered, shaking her head in disbelief. “They can’t give up. Not now.”

Rita stopped in front of the massed Synth, chin held high. She wasn’t speaking. She was waiting for something. Piper looked back toward the Institute lines and watched as the Synths began to part for someone. In spite of herself, she felt herself standing up a little taller. She wanted to see who was doing this. Nora was inside the Institute, so this had to be one of the smaller facilities like Machson’s.

Her heart knew it before her eyes did. She saw the flowing hair as a woman came into view. She knew that walk like it was her own. Even wearing Courser black and surrounded by Synths, even when Piper could not believe what her eyes were showing her, she knew who it was.

“Nora?”

It was little more than a whisper but Piper said the name like a prayer, like just its sound would drive away this imposter and bring the real Nora back to the world. That was not Nora. Piper knew it. She would never do something like this. She would never side with the Institute.

But it was her. Nora, her dark leather shining mutely against the sun, strode in front of the surrendering Synths, stopping just a few yards from Rita’s tiny figure. Ann was fidgeting, her legs tense as she bounced in place. She wanted to be over there, just like Piper did. Somehow, Piper’s hand found Ann’s arm and grasped it. They had to wait this out. That was Nora up there. Everything would be all right, now.

Rita was saying something that did not quite carry to Piper’s ears. She heard a little as the breeze picked up in her favor. “Just let them go. I’ll come back. We all will.”

“No,” Ann pleaded softly. “Rita. Don’t do it.”

Nora turned to the Courser beside her and started talking. The Courser did not seem impressed but Piper could not see his face. Maybe this could still end well. Nora was trying to reform the Institute. That had to be it. Fix it from the inside. That was her style. Not like Piper. Nora was better than Piper. She had found a way to save everyone.

“Is this your best?!”

Desdemona’s voice boomed in the courtyard. Piper looked up to see the fearless leader of the Railroad walk fearlessly into the open, passing between the Synths as they scattered. She gently nudged Rita aside as she passed, moving right in front of Nora to stand in the purest image of defiance. Nora said nothing, only watching as the breeze nudged her hair this way and that. She looked so different all in black.

Des shouted again. “Was this what you wanted all along? You never gave a damn about the Railroad, did you? You just wanted to keep Piper safe while you looked for a way to ride out the apocalypse in comfort. That was all we were to you, right? Just a meal ticket? How long did it take you to forget about what Synths are going through every day?”

Nora still said nothing. She just stood there. Mute. Expressionless. Piper heard herself start to beg “Say something. Please.” She had always been able to read Nora like a book but now the world had gone dark and Piper could no longer make out the words. There was not even enough light to see the page.

“Whatever it takes!” Des said, taking one step back toward the Synths. “That’s what I said. Do you remember?”

“I remember.” Nora’s voice carried like a bell and resonated in Piper’s chest. It was so quiet it was a wonder Des even heard it, but Piper could not have missed it.

Steel glinted in Nora’s hand. She was holding her pistol. Her rifle was gone. That was good. She was not planning on fighting. Or it was bad because the Institute was controlling her and was not letting her have a weapon. But that meant this was not her fault. Or it meant Nora was really one of them. No. That would never happen. Piper trusted her. More than anyone else, she trusted Nora with her life. With Nat’s life.

“Did that mean whatever it takes to save Piper? Was that what you heard? Whatever it takes, Agent! That’s what you have to do!”

The air went very still. Nora’s eyes lifted from the dirt. Piper thought she saw something in her face. Regret. Why? What happened? Nora raised her arm. It only took a second.

There was a sharp pop. Her head jerked back as the bullet hit her. Piper watched as, in slow motion, Desdemona fell backward.

“NO!”

Piper hardly recognized her own scream. Nora’s head whipped around, her eyes going wide as she saw Piper in the crowd. She saw Nora’s lips moving to form her name. “Piper?”

She was on her feet, climbing over the barricade when something slammed into her side and knocked her to the floor. Blue light flickered overhead. There were more gunshots. Suddenly the world was tearing itself apart again. She tried to stand up but someone was holding her down.

“Stay down!” Ann shouted as she tried to wrestle Piper into the dirt. “Piper, it’s over!”

Rita screamed. Ann sat up, giving Piper a chance to force herself up to the barrier again. It was chaos. Synths were boiling from every corner, running forward and backward and dying by the score. The Railroad was furious. Every gun in the city was pouring fire onto the Institute. Onto Nora.

Glory was howling. “We trusted you!” She was almost running with her minigun, chasing the black blur now darting between dying Synths as bullets tore up the street.

That black blur had the slightest trace of red, and Piper suddenly realized why Glory was trying to get to her. She had Rita. Nora had grabbed her and was trying to take her back. Piper could not believe it. She must have been trying to save the girl. All the other Synths were dead. That had to be what she was doing.

But Des. Des was dead. By now Ann had spotted Rita and was climbing over the barricade to follow Glory. Piper hopped over after her, shoving Ann’s rifle down and dragging her to the dirt. “No!”

“She killed Des!”

“I don’t care! Don’t shoot!”

As Piper fought with Ann, Glory kept shooting. “We fought with you! We fucking trusted you! She trusted you and you fucking killed her! Come back and fight! Come back and fight you fucking coward!”

The blur vanished behind the memorial. The Courser that had been with Nora somehow appeared in the open, his rifle raised. Glory got there first, shredding him with her minigun. The Courser jerked backward, sparking and coming apart like old newspaper under the hail of fire. Glory was charging to the spot where Nora had disappeared, howling as she went.

“You fucking killed her! You killed her!”

Ann caught Piper in the jaw with her elbow. The world flashed white and Ann rolled her into the dirt. “Rita!” she shouted, following Glory up the hill.

Piper caught her foot and sent her sprawling just as another shot rang out. It was just one, but the air was suddenly quiet. The minigun had gone silent. The worst of the shouting had stopped.

Glory lay in the road, motionless, her minigun lying beside her, a thin trail of smoke rising from the barrel. Ann picked herself up, shouting and cursing, her voice choked with rage. Piper felt tears begin to well up.

Another shot. Ann swore again and shouted louder. “Rita!”

Nora appeared at the gate, shouting at the remaining Synths. As one, they started for the gate, vanishing into the city. Nora kept shouting, raising one arm to point toward the cityscape. Rita was not with her.

White dust burst from Nora’s coat as she was struck in the hip and again in the shoulder. She staggered but kept her feet, fleeing behind a curtain of Synths that soaked up the remaining Railroad gunfire. Piper shouted for her. She never turned around. “Why?” Piper asked. No one answered.

Piper struggled to her feet. She tripped on the broken ground and stumbled over the bodies of dead Synths. Des was lying so still. But she couldn’t be dead. She was still alive, she had to be. No one could kill Des. She would always be there.

And Glory. She wasn’t moving. Why wasn’t she moving? Piper turned from one to the other, wanting to run to both. They couldn’t be gone. This wasn’t happening. It couldn’t be happening.

“Ann,” Piper called, her voice breaking even as she tried to pull herself together. “Ann, I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have – God dammit, what happened?”

There was no answer. She turned to find Ann staggering toward the gate, her eyes wild. Of course. Rita. Piper started dragging herself toward the monument. Nora hadn’t left with her. She could still be here. She could still be alive.

Ann saw her first. She froze, those eyes going wide in horror. Piper saw it, then. The bit of red in the dirt, tossed this way and that in the wind.

“Rita,” Ann dropped her rifle and sprinted, tripping over the dead and clambering on all fours the last few yards to her side. “Rita. Rita, please wake up. Please. You can’t be… Please. I – I still –“

Piper staggered up beside her, the tears falling freely. This couldn’t be happening. Nora. Nora couldn’t have done this. It wasn’t possible. It just wasn’t. She fell to her knees beside the tiny figure of Rita. She had saved them so many times. She had worked so hard on the Interceptor. She was so brave. She –

She was breathing. “Rita?!”

Piper rolled her over and pressed a finger to her neck. She was alive. “Ann! Ann, she’s alive. I need – fuck, I need something. A Stimpack, Med-X, anything.”

Ann shot to her feet in a cloud of dust. “Medic! I need help over here! Anyone! Help!”

Rita groaned softly. Piper leaned protectively over her and shushed her. “It’s all right. We’re here. Ann’s coming back soon, don’t worry. You’re safe.”

She mumbled something but Piper couldn’t make it out. “Shh, don’t talk. You’re gonna be all right, I promise. Just rest, okay? You were brave. You were so brave, Rita.”

Just like Des had been. And Glory. Fuck, what was happening? What was going on?

Piper looked back toward the gate. Toward where Nora had vanished. Somewhere behind her, Ann had stopped shouting and the sound of pounding feet echoed around the monument. Rita was safe. At least she had survived. One small, wonderful ray of hope in what had been the darkest hour of Piper’s life. Nora had killed Des. And Glory. She had almost killed Rita.

As the medics arrived for Rita, Piper felt her hands clenching into fists, her eyes going unfocused as tears of rage and grief began to blind her. In the end, she could only manage one word. “Why?”


	21. All Good Things

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Piper refuses to believe Nora has joined the Institute. Rita recovers from her injuries

Bunker Hill was silent. The battle had ended when Nora vanished with the Institute but it was hours before Piper began to come back to herself. She spent a long time wandering the square, longer still sitting beside Glory. A few times she tried to speak, either to her or walking across the courtyard to speak to Des, but nothing ever came out. She was sorry, she blamed herself, and there were only so many ways she could really say that.

The sun was nearly on the horizon when Piper found herself making her way back toward the main hall. She tried not to look down as she crossed the field of bodies, but she had to look to keep from stepping on them. When she was finally inside, she wandered toward the end of the room, barely aware of the footsteps behind her.

Suddenly her vision went white. Her face was against the wall and someone was screaming. “What the hell were you thinking?”

Piper reeled, pulling herself away from the wall as Ann spun her around. “Get off me!”

Ann grabbed her by the collar and shoved her against the wall harder. “What the fuck was that? What did you say back there?!”

“Let go!” Piper grappled pathetically with Ann’s grip but her eyes were wide and white as her knuckles.

She shoved Piper against the wall again. “You don’t care if she kills Des? Or Glory? What about Rita?” Ann punctuated each name with another shove. “Or is it just about Nora to you?”

Hearing Ann shout about Nora brought Piper back to life. She brought one leg up, howling as she lashed out at Ann’s knee. “Fuck you!” Her kick sent Ann reeling and gave Piper enough time to get her feet under her and shove her attacker back across the room. “That wasn’t her!”

“So who the fuck was it?” Ann shouted, limping but still snarling. “Who shot Rita? Huh?”

“Nora wouldn’t do that! She wouldn’t join them! She wouldn’t.”

She would never doubt Nora, not in a million years. That was something she had promised herself. After everything she had been through, Nora had earned that from Piper. Giving Piper time to deal with Ann, never once complaining about everything she had suffered because Piper wanted to play hero, and always, always waiting for Piper to be comfortable before even touching her hand.

But she had seen it. All of it. She had watched as Nora shot Des. Then Glory and Rita. There was no one else. It had to be Nora. “She wouldn’t do that,” Piper said, both to herself and to Ann. “Why would she?”

“Because it’s her son!” Ann spat. “Her fucking son is in charge of the Institute!”

Piper came up short, her mouth hanging open, waiting on the sentence that had been there a moment before. Ann dragged her leg to the side, pacing and clenching her fists like a caged animal. Piper’s voice did not even sound like her own. “What?”

“Yeah, her son is Father. The bastard that gave us all life is Nora’s son. And she chose him over you, over all of us, everyone she’s ever met and every Synth in the world. None of us mean a damn thing to her.”

“You knew?” Piper’s voice was a whisper. Now it was her turn to advance on Ann, murder in her eyes. “You knew, and you didn’t say anything?”

Ann backed away and growled. “What was I supposed to say? She never would have listened. It’s not like it would have changed anything.”

Piper grabbed Ann by the coat and swung at her head. “Why?” Her fist caught Ann in the cheek, stunning her. “Why didn’t you tell her?!”

Her next punch missed as Ann ducked, her own fist catching Piper in the gut and throwing her to the floor. “I didn’t owe her a damn thing! I gave up everything for her! For both of you!”

Piper landed hard, coughing and scrambling to her knees. Ann never came after her, leaving Piper crouched on all fours. Piper ran a hand over a scrape on her jaw, catching her breath and staring balefully at Ann as she leaned against a merchant stall. Her ribs hurt and her head was throbbing, but she still managed to speak.

“She trusted you. After everything you did to her, she wanted to make things right,” Piper rasped, glaring at Ann. “She was trying so hard to be better. I’m sorry about Rita. And I’m sorry about Des and Glory and everyone else, but don’t you dare try to pin this on Nora. She didn’t do this, I know her.”

Piper got to her feet, her eyes still burning into Ann’s skull. “Go see Rita. Then get the hell out of here. The Railroad’s gone. You can go wherever the fuck you want, I don’t care anymore. But I’m going to the Institute. I’m getting Nora back. Alone, if I have to, because I still believe in her.”

And she needed answers. She needed to know why.

Ann shook and huffed and pawed at her face, cursing under her breath as she went off to find Rita. Piper did not even watch her go. She had to do something to help. The Railroad was gone, but there were still people here who were hurt. And Nora would have been helping them if she were here, so Piper had damn well better get to it.

Back across the field of bodies she ran, her steps placed this time with greater purpose. Some of the Railroad medics had stayed to treat the wounded but they would be running out of supplies. Piper hurried to the street. Someone had to see the smoke. Someone would come to help. She just had to be there to flag them down.

No sooner had she gotten outside the gate than she found salvation waiting for her. A caravan was coming down the road, the guards plainly gawking at the columns of smoke rising over Bunker Hill. There were two Brahmin, both loaded down with everything from steamer trunks to sleeping bags. Piper pelted down the road.

“Hey! Help! We need help over here!”

The guards looked back toward the driver. She saw a man in a tattered white coat wander around the side of his pack animals to squint at the smoke. He looked at Piper, standing in front of what was no doubt his safe harbor for the night, her arms raised and her face bloody.

And he turned away.

Piper stamped and shouted. “You can’t leave! We have wounded! There are children back there! Please!”

No one turned around. Not the driver, not the guards, not the Brahmin. Piper stopped in the road, helpless. She watched as the column snaked down a side road toward Diamond City. They wouldn’t get there before nightfall but it was better than whatever was waiting for them in Bunker Hill.

The next caravan was worse. They rolled right through the intersection, ignoring Piper’s pleas and watching the smoke rise over the settlement with looks of complete boredom. Desperate, she ran right up to the driver and begged for help. He had to have something. Someone with a pipe rifle dragged her away. The driver spat at her and laughed. No one helped.

That was how it was going to be, then. Piper dragged herself back to the stairs. She felt herself pull the lighter from her jacket and fished for a cigarette in her pocket. It took a dozen tries to get it to light, and when it finally did, it didn’t help, either.

 

The whole world had shrunk down to the space of a single room. Everything that mattered was happening in front of Ann right now. Everything that would ever matter in the future would happen with Rita’s next breath. Time was measured only by the passing of these moments and Ann was too distracted to count them.

Thoughts intruded every now and again about who she could blame for this. Whenever Rita’s next breath took a bit too long or came in a bit too ragged, she thought about who she could hurt to make this right. Nora was at the top of her list. She had shot Rita. No one but a monster would hurt someone like Rita, but it seemed the Institute had a knack for creating monsters. The Coursers who had Recalled Rita she could almost forgive, but Nora, someone who had known Rita, who had just finished asking Ann to watch over Piper for her. No, Ann could not forgive that.

And Piper had let it happen. All she cared about was Nora. Des and Glory were dead. They hadn’t deserved an end like that, cut down like a couple of feral Ghouls with no chance even to say goodbye. Not that Piper gave a damn. Ann could have saved them. All she would have had to do was kill Nora. Then Rita and Glory would still be alive.

She hoped Piper was pleased with herself. Now her girlfriend could go back to the Institute and kill more Synths and butcher more Railroaders. Maybe they would exchange notes across the battle lines and keep their love alive in spite of all the war. She hoped it went like that, almost as much as she hoped she would be the one to finally kill Nora.

“Ann?”

Rita’s eyes fluttered open just far enough for Ann to get another look at that wonderful, deep blue she so badly wanted to get lost in. Ann leaned over the bed and sent her chair scraping across the floor. “Rita? Oh, God, you’re all right.”

Ann watched in awe as a smile tugged at Rita’s freckled cheeks. She was still smiling after everything that had happened to her. “I’m fine. You?”

Rita’s voice cracked with every syllable. Just asking about Ann sent her into a coughing fit, her body rejecting the idiotic concern for someone so beneath her. “That’s a side effect of the Stimpacks. They’ll make you so thirsty you can’t see straight. Here,” she said, grabbing her canteen and shushing Rita with a gentle hand on her shoulder. “You don’t need to talk. Just being alive is… well, it’s more than enough right now.”

If there was ever a less appropriate time to tell Rita how she felt about her, Ann could not recall it. The poor girl needed rest, not an emotional commitment thrown at her the moment she woke up.

Rita’s voice cracked again. “Happy I’m alive. But I’d feel better if I knew you were all right.”

“I’m fine,” Ann soothed, running one hand over Rita’s forehead. She didn’t have a fever, so that was good. “Thanks to you. You were the one standing out there like a hero.”

There was a large part of Ann that wanted to chew Rita out for doing something so dangerous but she couldn’t bring herself to scold the poor girl. She just needed rest. Then Ann could give her a much-needed slap on the wrist. If Ann had learned anything from her time with Piper, it was that no one could save the world on their own.

Rita smiled and laid back. “Good.”

She looked like she might fall back asleep right then, giving Ann nothing to do but wait beside her until she woke up. She wouldn’t have complained, of course. She just wanted to know that Rita was all right.

Her repose did not last long. Rita’s eyes suddenly opened and before Ann could stop her she was trying to get out of bed. “Piper,” she gasped, grimacing as she tried to sit up. “Where’s Piper?”

“Don’t worry about her,” Ann said, pushing Rita back into the bed and trying not to grind her teeth as she thought about Piper. “She’s outside. She’s fine. Just rest.”

“No.” Rita tried to push back, weak as she was from the Stimpacks and blood loss. “Nora. She… Did she shoot me?”

As Rita’s hand went to her side, Ann tried to ease her back against the pillow. “Yeah. Yeah, she shot you.”

And she was going to pay for that. Rita’s eyes came away from her wound and met Ann’s. “And Des. She’s dead, isn’t she?”

It was not really a question. “Yeah,” Ann said again. “Nora killed her.”

“I know,” Rita mumbled unhappily. The look of grief that crossed her face could have brought anyone to their knees. For her part, Ann sat back in her chair and tried again to process everything that had happened.

Nora had betrayed them. She had found her son and chosen her old life over everything new. The Railroad, Synths, even Piper had been dropped the moment she laid eyes on that bastard she called a son.

“Des was so brave,” Rita murmured. “She knew what was going to happen so she came out to save us. She thought that was the only way.”

“It wasn’t your fault,” Ann said quietly. “She had to stop Nora. I just wish she had shot her first.”

“No,” Rita said, again trying to get out of the bed. “You don’t understand. She saved me.”

“What?” It was enough to stun Ann, allowing Rita to roll herself toward the side of the bed. She did not quite make it all the way over, stopping at the edge to nurse her still-healing side.

“That’s why I need to find Piper. She’s going to think Nora betrayed her, that she killed Des because she’s with the Institute. She isn’t. She had to do it.”

Ann was shaking her head. “Rita, she shot those Synths. And you and Des and Glory. She’s –“

“Glory?” Rita looked up, her eyes again filled with pain. “Is Glory okay?”

The long pause no doubt told Rita everything she needed to know. “I’m sorry, Rita. She’s dead. She was chasing after you, we both were. We wanted to save you.” Ann swallowed as much from shame as hatred. “Nora was faster.”

More grief washed over Rita’s face, mixing with the pain of trying to move too soon as she again tried to get out of the bed. “No, that’s not true. Nora was saving me. I have to tell Piper.”

“Saving you?” Ann found her feet and tried to stop Rita from hurting herself even more. “What are you talking about?”

“The Courser,” Rita said as tried to stand, digging her nails painfully into Ann’s shoulder. “It wanted her to kill us all. It kept telling her that it was looking for us – you and me – and it couldn’t let us go, that now she needed to kill all of us. Nora said no. She wanted to take just me back for questioning. She said she saw you die at Sanctuary Hills.”

That made no sense. “Why? Why would she lie about that?”

“I don’t know, but she wanted me to come back with her. She told them to leave the Railroad alone and give her a chance to talk them down. The Courser kept saying no. It was going to confirm its orders with Father when Des… when Des stepped in. Nora just watched. Like she knew what was going to happen. She didn’t want to do it. Maybe if Des hadn’t stepped in, Nora would have convinced Father just to take me.”

Ann was shaking her head. “You can’t think like that Rita. You can’t go out there and just trade yourself in. You’re worth more than that.”

“I think Nora had a plan,” Rita kept going, putting her feet under her and clutching Ann’s shoulder so tight that by now it was probably bleeding. “I don’t know what it was, but when she shot Des, everything went crazy. Glory started shooting the Synths and the Synths started shooting us. The Courser was aiming right at me but Nora knocked his gun away. She grabbed me and started running. I think she was trying to save me from the Synths.”

“When we got to the statue, Glory was right there. She pushed me down and told me to stay there. She didn’t sound angry. I heard the gunshot. I didn’t think that Nora would kill her. Then she was pushing me down against the ground. She told me to lie still and to trust her. I think she was crying. Then she said she was sorry,” Rita shook her head. “I don’t remember anything else.”

Ann hesitated, steadying Rita as she tried to go for the door. “Rita, that doesn’t mean she saved you. Des and Glory are both still dead and she killed them.”

“I know,” Rita’s voice was more pained that it should have been. “But I’m still here. She could have killed me but she didn’t. She saved me from the Institute.” She wobbled as she turned to face Ann. “And I do trust her.”

Anyone else, Ann would have called an idiot, and right now she wanted to call Rita naïve. Nora had killed their friends. “How? How can you still trust her?”

“Because I’m still alive,” Rita rasped between her teeth. “Ann, if she wanted me dead, I would be. Please. Give her a chance. Just let me talk to Piper.”

Against every part of her being, Ann helped Rita toward the door. She wanted her to stay in bed. She wanted her to stay safe and rest and away from Piper, the woman who had nearly gotten her killed. Or, at least, that was how she wanted to see it. She wanted to blame Piper and Nora, the two women she had loved, hated, envied, and pitied more than anyone else in her life. So much of that had been her doing.

And now this. Ann could have stopped all this. If she had just told Nora about her son, maybe she would have been prepared. Maybe she would not have gone at all, instead sending Ann or Glory to destroy the Institute. Maybe then Des and Glory would still be alive. As much as she wanted to blame Piper, the guilt was there, and it would not be silent.

She helped Rita out into the hallway. They met no one as they wandered through what once had been the main hall of Bunker Hill. The walls seemed to press in on them now that the sound of life had faded. Even the building itself knew this was wrong. It missed the sound of caravans and peddlers hawking their wares to travelers on their way to Diamond City or whatever settlement they called home. Maybe it, too, blamed Ann for what had happened.

Rita pushed herself off Ann’s shoulder as they reached the edge of the city. Piper was sitting on the steps, a trembling cigarette on her fingertips as she stared down the road. Ann stopped near the monument, letting Rita walk on her own. She owed Piper an apology, a feeling that had dominated almost every hour of Ann’s incredibly short life. Looking at her now, Ann wanted nothing more than to take it all back. No one would be taking this harder than Piper.

Only when Rita had almost reached her did Piper turn around. Her eyes were the same as always; hard and determined, even if they were red from crying. It would have been easy to see her as a wounded animal, and in a way, when Rita came so softly toward her, she was nothing more than that. She actually flinched away at first.

She never did say anything. Rita just walked up to her, murmuring things Ann could not hear, and held her. Ann watched as Rita folded Piper into her arms and let her head come to rest on her shoulder. Piper didn’t know what to do. Her hands slowly worked their way up Rita’s back, still trembling as the cigarette fell forgotten to the pavement.

Rita’s voice was muffled but Piper’s words were clear enough. “I’m so sorry, Rita.”

More mumbling came from Rita. Whatever she said put Piper over the edge. At first, Ann couldn’t believe what she was seeing, thinking it had to be something else. But there she was. Piper Wright fell into Rita’s arms and, in complete silence, sobbed into the girl’s shoulder. It was impossible. Piper couldn’t cry. Nothing could break her. She had lost her home, her little sister, and even the woman she loved, and still she kept going.

“It wasn’t your fault,” Rita’s voice repeated. “It’s okay.”

Piper clutched Rita more tightly, the folds of Rita’s shirt crinkling under her fingers. “I didn’t want to lose her. I thought it would all stop if – if I could have just gotten there. I didn’t think she would…”

“She didn’t,” Rita soothed. “I’m still here. And so is she.”

Piper sniffed and raised her head. “What are you talking about?”

“She wanted me to trust her. She saved me from being killed, I’m sure of it. Nora isn’t with them, Piper. You just have to trust her. Like I did.”

Ann shook her head. No one would ever stamp out that smile, that was for sure. Rita was, as ever, too good for anyone she chose to spend her time with. Ann didn’t deserve her. Piper probably didn’t, either, but at least she came closer.

Wiping some of the tears away, Piper looked over Rita’s shoulder to meet Ann’s eyes. She should have been angry but there was no hate there. Not for Ann, at least. There was only the fire. Just like she had promised, she would walk straight into the Institute, alone and naked if she had to, just to rescue Nora. Ann swallowed and gave her a little smile. There would be time enough to grovel in front of Piper. Her apology could wait at least a little longer. Now they had work to do. They would make this mean something. Des and Glory would not have died for nothing.

Rita looked from one woman to the other, smiling to shame the sun. “We’ll get her back,” she promised. “You’ll see.”


	22. What Cost is Too Great

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Nora recovers in the Institute

Angry, throbbing pain greeted Nora every time she moved her right arm. Her hip was still screaming from running all the way back to the Institute after being lashed by unforgiving gunfire. Both wounds at least were superficial. She had her Courser armor to thank for that. Otherwise that shot to the leg might have crippled her and the large bruise now purpling her back would have been a punctured lung.

She would have deserved the internal bleeding. It would have gone nicely with Glory’s screams that still echoed in Nora’s ears or the look of betrayal on Piper’s face that never quite left her mind.

With her good arm, she managed to work her jacket and armor over her head and onto the table. A good deal more work went into removing her pants, not least of all because of the two Synth medics staring blandly at the more intimate places on her body. A few months ago, robot doctors would have been a comfort, but she could just imagine Rita or Ann doing this exam and acting in very human ways, both good and bad.

Nora slumped as she finally sat back on the exam table, draped in an oversized hospital gown. Rita. That poor girl. Why had she surrendered? Had that been her idea? Nora could have saved them – all of them – if the Synths had just stayed hidden. At least, that was what she chose to tell herself. Even if she had saved Rita, Ann would surely want her dead. That damn Synth loved Rita like Nora loved Piper, and Nora could very easily imagine how things would play out if Ann had pulled a gun on Piper.

The two Synth medics finally began their work. They were a sight straight from _The Shining_ in Nora’s eyes. They were nearly identical, starting their exams at precisely the same moment with precisely the same motions. It made Nora pine for the days of Mr Handys. At least their hands didn’t try to feel real.

The door slid open. “Are you all right?”

It was her son’s voice. The slippered shuffling that always accompanied Shaun’s movements should have given her something to smile about. Instead, it tied her gut in knots. “I’m fine, Shaun.”

Most of her friends were dead and she had just killed two of the best women ever to breathe, but she doubted her son would be sympathetic. He hurried in front of her, looking from one Synth to the other before going back to Nora. She smiled in spite of herself as he began pacing the room, fretful over his poor mother. He began bombarding the Synths with questions, all of which were answered with a terse “Please wait for us to finish the exam.”

Nora tried to keep her smile alive. Any good mother would do that for her son. “I said I’m fine, Shaun. Really, it’s just a few bruises.”

“I knew I shouldn’t have let you go,” Shaun growled. “I should have told them to trust you. My own mother, put in harm’s way by a bunch of short-sighted fearmongers who don’t trust anyone not born from a test tube.”

Her Mom Smile grew wider. “Shaun. I’m fine. I’ll tell you the story about the time I fought a Deathclaw. Would that make you feel better?”

“Hardly,” Shaun grumbled. “I think it would do nothing more than compound the guilt. I should have brought you here much sooner.”

“How about the time I blew up Trinity Tower while I was standing on the roof?”

More grumbling came from Shaun. “As I said. Guilt.”

The Synths finished their exams and conducted a synchronized and incredibly eerie about face. Mercifully, only one did the talking. “Patient is stable and in no immediate danger. Significant bruising at both impact sites but no signs of damage to internal organs or skeletal structure.”

Shaun grimaced. “Well, that’s something. All right, that’s enough. You’re dismissed.”

More synchronized steps carried the two out of the room. Nora watched, uncomfortably aware of such showcased inhumanity. The door slid closed behind them.

“I cannot wait for the full Gen 3 rollout,” Shaun muttered after they had gone.

Nora looked away from the door and back to her son. “They weren’t Gen 3s?”

“No. They may have the façade of the newer models, but they lack the… refinement of our newest work. There is a certain irony, I suppose, in wishing for a more human model when that very humanity has caused us so much trouble.”

If it was not ironic, it was certainly cruel.

“Do you ever regret it?” Nora asked, looking her son in the eyes.

There was the briefest pause. Nora felt her heart lift with the thin hope that, at the very least, her son retained something of his father’s hard-won compassion for human life. “No,” he said, shaking his head. “No, it had to be this way. There must be sacrifices if we are to remake the world, and this is such a small one to pay.”

Nora’s did her best to hide her face as the last of her delusions came crumbling down around her.

“My only regret is that you had to be involved,” Shaun said, taking a slow, shuffling step toward his mother. If he had noticed the slight twist of her lips or the way her eyes suddenly lost their light, he gave no sign. “But you have performed admirably. To see my own mother stop the Railroad. I never thought I would live to see the day. You have done so much for the Institute. I hope, one day, it can repay you.”

There were several things it could do to repay her, but most of them involved pulling the roof down around their ears. “So do I, Shaun.”

This time he did notice something. He hesitated, searching his mother’s face, his eyes going so worried and guilty, even if he could not know why. He was such a good son. He tried. A better mother could have reasoned with him, could have guided him gently away from this horrible path that he had not even chosen for himself. This was not his fault. It was the Institute’s, and it was Nora’s.

When the silence began to stretch, Shaun started wandering toward the door. “Get some rest. I’ll have a word with the Directorate. I will not have my mother treated as a prisoner in my own home.”

As Nora watched her son make for the door, she knew she had to decide, and she had to do it now. She could live her life down here, knowing Piper was safe above ground and spending time with the son she had never known. She would live in safety. Maybe one day she would even see Piper again. And poor little Natalie. The Institute could surely do something to help her, make sure she pulled through. Anything was worth that. Saving that little girl.

“Shaun.”

She had to make a choice. Her hesitation and half-measures had cost Des and Glory their lives. Four more Synths were dead because they had asked for their freedom. Even now, as Nora sat on her hands, another Rita could have been sitting in SRB, her mind being stolen away because she had dared to ask if she deserved a life.

Her son turned around. “Yes, mother?”

A mother would not have done this to her son. “When I was with the Railroad, I spoke to the woman who replaced me. Ann.”

Shaun frowned. “Yes. I am sorry that we let her escape.”

“She told me she left something here, in the Institute, in case she ever needed to get back in.”

“Oh?” That had his attention.

“It was something on the network. I’m not exactly sure what, but I was hoping to look for it. If I had full privileges, I think I could find it before she uses it against us.”

Her son wrinkled his brow. “We monitored all network access while that Synth was in our care. She surely left nothing that our technicians did not find. You can rest easy, mother. We are safe.”

“It was on an older system, probably pre-war. Do your techs have experience there?” Nora lied. She was lying to her son to get what she wanted. She was going to burn for this and she was not even sure if she cared. “I can help you find it. I want to help.”

Shaun hesitated at that, his eyes going soft. “You’ve done enough, mother. You’ve put yourself in danger and I will ensure that the Directorate listens when I tell them you are with us. You don’t need to prove anything more to me or anyone in the Institute.”

“This isn’t about them, Shaun,” Nora said quietly. “Between me and… and it. It’s personal.”

There was a special place in hell for mothers who lied to their sons like this. This wasn’t for his own good. This was for her. She was placing herself and everything she believed in over her own family, and she was doing it too late even to save herself. It was the only way this could end after she had tried to save everyone.

She had tried so hard to save everyone. Desdemona would have been alive if she had been able to find those bullets Ann had used on her so long ago. Nora had asked around about them discreetly, even going so far as to break into the Institute’s armory in order to find them. She had nearly gotten herself blown apart by automated turrets only to find that everything was in unmarked crates. Of course it was unlabeled. Robots didn’t need labels.

Even then she had kept trying. During the battle, she had been so close to calling off the attack. If Rita and the Synths had held out just a few more minutes, everything would have been fine. Nora had bullied her way into commanding a whole host of Institute forces only to throw them headlong into the enemy guns. It had made her sick but she had seen no other way. She had been so close, so damn close to stopping it.

But the truth was she had never been able to save everyone. Not before the war, not after. Someone always had to die.

Shaun nodded. “Of course. I’ll make sure you have access to all our systems. I doubt anyone will question your loyalty now.”

 

Liam Binet crept into the supply room, glancing over his shoulder four times before he finally reached the far side of the room. He ducked behind one of the shelves, placing himself in a bit of darkness with a good view of the door. This was probably not how he usually operated. No doubt he was more used to calling the shots, moving Synths when and where he chose.

Nora could not have cared less. She watched him from her own shadowed corner just behind him. It felt the same as watching Kellog. That should have worried her.

Her voice was as empty as the air between them. “Patriot.”

Liam jumped, spinning around and knocking something important-looking onto the floor with a hollow clang. He was just a boy. It should have bought sympathy from Nora and even as she struggled to feel something for him, there was nothing. It was like trying to remember how to walk or how to breathe, so familiar yet so impossible.

“Who are you?” his asked in a blustery whimper.

Nora was not feeling up to small talk. She took a step forward, showing herself under one of the lights she had left burning. It answered his question well enough, judging by the look on his face. His eyes went big and he looked desperately toward the door. “I wouldn’t do that.”

He looked back, plainly mulling his odds. The Courser leathers were probably what convinced him to stay put. “What do you want?”

“You’re in contact with the Railroad.”

It was not a question. Patriot shifted awkwardly. “Well no. I mean, I know how to contact them, if I have to, if it’s an emergency, but we’re –“

She took another slow, measured step towards him. His bumbling should have made her angry or impatient or at the very least a little sympathetic. “You’re going to send them a message.”

He took a step back, bumping into a shelf and almost knocking a stack of cleaning chemicals to the floor. “What – what makes you think –“

“You’re going to tell them how to get in,” Nora said, never raising her voice and sounding for all the world like another Courser. “There has to be another way in. And I’m betting you know it. Don’t you?”

Nora watched as poor Liam tried to cope with his ruined afternoon. “I don’t – there isn’t another way in. Only the Teleporter –“

“Lying to me is a very bad idea, Liam. I’ve had a very long day, and I’d very much like to make it better before it’s over. You want to help me make it better, don’t you?” She cocked her head to the side, sizing up the small boy standing in front of her. “Why get involved in this, anyway? I’m just curious.”

Liam, apparently realizing the game was up, sagged in defeat. “I wanted to see if I could, I suppose. Started out as a game. Getting Synths out was a challenge, so I thought it would be… fun.”

There it was. Every Synth who had ever dreamed of a real life and, gathering up all the courage a living thing could ever muster, reached for the impossible chance of escaping the Institute, even if it meant losing their very identity, had put their faith in this man. And to him, it was all a game.

All of Nora’s sympathy vanished in a rush. She was glad she had asked, really. It made this so much easier. “You’re going to tell me everything, Patriot.” She took another, slow step, spitting his name like curse. “How you send your messages, how long they take to get there, and anything else I’ll need to hand the Institute over on a silver platter.”

The boy tried to stand his ground. “Why should I?”

“Because I’m sure Father would love to hear about how you’ve been talking to the people who have made a living stealing his Synths.”

Liam’s face turned horrified. “You – you wouldn’t. He’ll have cameras here and –“

“Not anymore.”

“And I could just tell him you were the one looking to make contact with them.”

A humorless laugh rolled like thunder from Nora’s throat. “Go ahead. Run out of here. Call him and tell him everything. I’m sure Shaun – that’s the name I gave him when he was born – will believe one of us. And even if it isn’t me, if he doubts his dear mother I promise you, when the Institute asks a question, they will find a way to make you answer. I’ve been in that chair. I know what they can do to make you talk. So, when they ask you how to send a message to your friends on the surface, and when all that’s left of you is broken bones and ragged gasps, you will tell them everything, and I’ll be there to hear it all. You see, Liam Binet, it doesn’t matter what you do. I’m going to end this. All of it. And if you do this the hard way, the only thing that will change is that you will be dead. It will be slow, and painful, and pointless, and I don’t want that for you.” Nora took a deep breath and looked the boy who was Patriot in the eye. “Please. Give me what I want.”

Liam had backed himself into the corner as Nora spoke. After a long moment, his shoulders slumped in defeat. “Yes. I can send them a message.”

Nora was not even relieved. “Tell me how.”

“It’s not that simple,” Liam complained. Nora did not even need to say anything before he started panicking again. “I’ll do it – I promise, I’ll send them whatever you want – but what you’re doing. It’s not going to work.”

“No, Liam. You’re not going to do anything. You’re going to tell me how to send a message. You’re going to tell me everything you know about the Synths here – which ones I can trust and which ones I can’t – and that’s all. Run if you’d like. Find a place to hide until this all blows over. Maybe even try to help. But this is going to happen. Do not get in the way.”

As Nora finished speaking, she watched as Patriot returned for one last gasp of life. “Or what?”

Nora had to smile at that. “Or you’ll get to meet someone really, really scary. Cross the Institute if you want, Liam, and call it a game if that makes you feel better, but never start a fight with the press.”


	23. Our Little Piece of Life

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> As Ann and the Railroad try to recover, Rita plans for life after the Institute

So ended the great fight for the Commonwealth, with dead heroes and old friends turned to bitter enemies. It was not the ending Ann had hoped for, and if she were to ask Rita or Piper, they would no doubt tell her that nothing had ended at all, that this was just another beginning. The Institute would still fall, the Synths would still be free, and Nora, well, she supposed that would depend on who got there first.

If it was Ann, Piper might end up burying the last of her family before going home to her bed-ridden sister. The thought made her cringe. No matter how much she hated Nora, her vengeance would come at a price, and she had already cost Piper so very much in this short life. Piper deserved a happy ending. If only Nora had thought the same thing, maybe she could have gotten one. This was Nora, after all, the woman who killed Deathclaws and stopped wars with a single shot. She could have done something. She could have saved everyone.

Ann palmed one of her many water bottles and tried to cram it in with the rest of the rations. Rita needed more water than Ann, so she would just have to find a way to make room. She could always start wearing a jacket like Nora’s. She probably had all sorts of stuff sewn into the pockets.

Rita was out in the courtyard, her hair soaking up the sun’s rays and making the whole world glow. Ann watched, one hand in her backpack, all the tension leaving her. She actually felt herself sighing as she watched Rita do absolutely nothing. God, she was pathetic. She should have just said something or at the very least not pushed Rita away that night.

In brighter times, she would have gone to Piper for advice. That conversation, despite surely being instructive, would have been worth starting for the sheer, horrifying awkwardness that no doubt would have gone with it. She doubted anyone in the world had a more sordid history than the one that existed between herself and Piper Wright. Even so, when she really thought about it, Piper probably would have sat her down and told her exactly what to say. Piper was selfless like that, and she did seem to care deeply about Rita, as everyone inevitably did.

If only things were that simple now. The Institute should have just stood aside, if for no better reason than to allow a singularly entertaining experiment play out, and allowed Ann and Rita to fall in love. If that kind of blind commitment did not prove their humanity, she wondered if anything ever would. But there was work to be done, empires to topple and old scores to settle. Love, for now, would have to stand aside.

Shouldering her pack like a good little mule and feeling as though she had done enough soul-searching, Ann walked out of the shade to join Rita in the courtyard. Whatever happened, Rita would keep Ann pointed in the right direction. She was like that; optimistic, idealistic, always working her hardest and never tiring in the slightest. What she was doing around someone like Ann was an unsolvable mystery.

Rita turned and smiled as Ann walked up. “Hey, that looks heavy.”

Ann rolled her eyes and shifted. “It’s not so bad. I figured I might as well be prepared for wherever we’re going.”

“Wherever we’re going,” Rita echoed, nodding as she peered over her shoulder. “To the Institute, right?”

“That’s the plan.”

Rita was quiet for a moment, chewing her lip in thought as her expression went from bright to gloomy. “Do you think I should have said anything?”

“What do you mean?” Ann asked, moving closer.

“To Piper. I promised her we’d get Nora back and I know we will but,” she turned to Ann, still smiling weakly. “I don’t know how. I don’t even know where to start.”

“That hasn’t stopped the Railroad yet,” Ann pointed out, trying to cheer her up. “They’ve been at this for years and they hadn’t even found out about the Relay until you showed up. But they kept fighting, saving Synths where they could and just being a pain in the ass to Father.”

Rita giggled. “How inspiring.”

“I thought so,” Ann said, and there was a grain of truth in it. Father was a right bastard in her mind, even ignoring what he had done to Ann personally. He was a monster, plain and simple. “You’ve already done the impossible once. You don’t need to keep doing it over and over just to prove that you can.”

Rita shook her head. “I didn’t do anything. I just helped. Tom did most of the work and no one’s seen him in days.” She looked around the market as if hoping to prove herself wrong just by saying his name aloud. “And that’s not why I’m worried. I remember what he did, I can put another Interceptor together if we have to, but what happens after that? What happens when we get inside and Nora’s there and the Railroad sees her?”

There was little doubt in Ann’s mind what would happen. She kept it to herself, sure that Rita could conjure up the same images without her help. Ann watched as the scene played out. Piper was screaming, some nameless Agent put Nora down on her knees as another pulled out a pistol and shot her in the head. The Railroad howled in vengeance as Piper was left alone, cradling the body of the last person she truly cared about.

She shook away the image. Maybe Piper would want Nora dead by the time they got to the Institute. Des and Glory had been her friends, too, and the Institute was not exactly Piper’s favorite cult. Maybe time would bring her around. Ann remembered her own experience with Piper’s wrath. The woman could be a right terror if she decided you had earned it.

“I think that will be up to Piper,” Ann said finally.

That seemed to mollify Rita. A little of the worry left her face, even if it did not quite leave her voice. “I hope so. I don’t know…” she sighed, looking ashamedly at her feet. “I don’t know what I would do if I were her. I know Nora could have killed me and she didn’t and that has to mean something, but I loved Des. And Glory, too. They were my friends. Why did she have to kill them?”

Ann had been wondering that for a long time, and perhaps the simplest answer was the truth, even if it was the least satisfying. Nora was human, and she had made a mistake. Surely there was more to it, and Ann would have given anything to be a fly on the wall when Nora spilled the story to Piper, but that day was far away, and Piper was not the type to kiss and tell. The story of how the Institute fell, what truly happened in these final days of its existence, could end up being the one story Piper never fully put into print. Her love of the free press, of the whole, often ugly truth, was nothing compared to her love for her family.

“I don’t know,” Ann said at last. “I’m sorry. I don’t know.”

“It wasn’t your fault,” Rita said, smiling once again. “You don’t have to say sorry.”

She did. No matter what she told herself, this was just as much her fault as Nora’s. If she had known what was waiting for her in the Institute or if Ann had been the one to go through the Interceptor instead of her, everything might have turned out differently. Des and Glory might still be alive. Or Ann might be dead and everyone else buried under a pile of Synth corpses on the smoldering hilltop that was once Sanctuary Hills.

“I still feel like I failed them,” Ann admitted softly, her eyes turning toward the monument that marked Bunker Hill. Piper had spent hours digging two graves there, marking them both with makeshift crosses scavenged from wooden planks. When no one came forward to help, Ann picked up a shovel to start digging beside her. One look from Piper had been enough to send her running. “Des and Glory. And Piper. I should have done something.”

“You can’t save everyone,” Rita soothed. “Even you aren’t perfect.”

That got Ann to laugh. “Even me. If you’re looking at me for perfect, you’ve got worse eyes than Tom.”

“Well, maybe not perfect,” Rita said, sidling a little closer. “But you’re still perfect to me.”

Ann began to flush. What was she supposed to say to that? “That – uh – thanks. I mean, you’re perfect, too. Even if I’m not. You are.”

Rita’s laughter was enough to convince Ann to shut up. Wooing pretty girls had never been her strong suit. At least, that was how she saw it. In all fairness, she had never really tried. Maybe she should practice more.

Lucky for her, Rita was thinking the same thing. “So, I was thinking,” Rita said, putting one careful hand on Ann’s arm. “I know you said you needed some time, and that’s okay, but I was thinking how this – the Railroad, the Institute – it’s all going to be over soon. And we’re going to have a lot of Synths with us. And they’re going to need a home.” Her eyes caught Ann’s, sparkling like the sea. “We are going to need a home.”

Ann was having an incredibly difficult time thinking about anything besides Rita. “A home?”

“For Synths,” Rita said, her fingers now playing with Ann’s coat sleeve. “We can’t stay here. I don’t think people will trust us. Not yet, anyway. We’ll need a place for ourselves. Somewhere we can be safe and where we can show the world that Synths are just as good as humans. That we don’t want to hurt them. We just want to be free.”

“Yeah,” Ann said lamely, watching Rita’s fingers work. “I hadn’t thought about that.”

A light, melodious laugh brought Ann’s gaze back to Rita’s. “Well, now that you’re thinking it over, I’m sure you’ll have it solved in no time.” Those deep blues that so hypnotized Ann now flicked toward her boots. Her fingers played a little faster. “I guess what I’m trying to say is that it’s going to be a long journey, wherever it is we’re going. It’s going to be hard and I’ll probably get lost since I’m not even sure which way North is and what even is North of anywhere and, um… I want you with me.”

The words hit Ann like a ton of bricks. She felt herself start to smile stupidly. “You want me with you?”

“Not like – well, yes, like that, too, but you said you needed time. And I don’t mind the wait, really. I just wanted you to know. That I want you. To come with us. And to help make a home.”

Ann was beaming as she finished the sentence. “With us?”

Rita shook her head. “With me.”

Ann’s fingers found their way between Rita’s. “Okay. I think you’ve convinced me.”

“Good,” Rita smiled, her freckles pinching together as she pushed a bit of red hair back over her ear. “I was wondering if you were going to make me beg.”

A thousand clever remarks danced on Ann’s tongue. She opened her mouth to give them life and bring Rita crashing into her arms.

“Miss Rita!”

Ann had never wanted to murder anyone quite so badly. Tom, having been absent for almost two days, chose that exact moment to reappear as the shirtless, sweat-stained image of chastity. All those careful thoughts of love, both pure and impure, vanished in a heartbeat, leaving the both of them stunned.

Rita managed to speak. “Tom?”

“You know it. And you! Uh, Amy? Ali?”

“Ann!” She nearly throttled him.

“Right, right, Ana.”

Rita suffered a sudden coughing fit that left Ann white-knuckled and grinding her teeth. “What. Is. It.”

“Got a message this morning. From You Know Who.”

Apparently that was supposed to explain everything. Ann resisted the urge to twist his head off like a Nuka Cola cap. “And?”

“We got ourselves a way inside the Institute!” Tom, by his own magic, now produced a dirty, annotated map of the Commonwealth from some unspeakable nowhere inside his overalls. “Look!” He leaned forward, causing Ann and Rita to lean back as one. “Right here! Tunnels under the Institute. Looks like they needed water and a place to dump all their nasty, evildoing waste, so they dug their way down and up and around until bam!”

Ann stared at the map. By now, Tom’s excitement had succeeded in drawing the attention of a dozen other Agents still loitering in the courtyard. She even spotted Piper climbing the hill behind Rita. Even at a glance, the woman looked like she had been beaten with a club. Her eyes were as red as her coat and her clothes were still filthy from digging graves.

Rita spoke first. “And that’s it? We just walk in?”

“No way, Sparks. Too small for so many people. Need a few people to go in, find the Teleporter, hack that bad boy and bring in the cavalry.”

“How?” Rita – or Sparks now that Tom was here – leaned toward the map. “We’d need to build another Interceptor. That could take –“

“Two days, baby,” Tom said, puffing out his chest. “You ain’t the only one who can do magic! I gots a little up my sleeve, don’t you worry.”

Ann resisted the urge to point out that he had no sleeves. “How’d you hear about this?”

Tom, annoyed that his private session with Rita had been interrupted, glared at Ann. “We got us an inside man. Patriot. Dude sends us Synths from the inside and we take care of them on the outside.”

“And he sent you this map? Why?”

“It was weird, right? Said it was time to free every Synth and this was the way to do it. Never done nothing like that before. Maybe he got sick of playing hide and seek with Coursers.”

Tom was shaking his head as Rita and Ann scrutinized the map. They were not far from where they were supposed to enter the Institute. Ann could hardly believe it. If this had been in their hands earlier, if they had only known about this a few days earlier, Des and Glory might still be alive.

“And Nora?”

Everyone turned to face Piper. Her voice betrayed no hint of the agony so apparent to Ann. She looked as she always did, her eyes sharp but tinged with worry. “That has to be her, right? Does it say anything about her?”

Tom, in the midst of the brutal silence that followed, had the decency to look sorry. “No. I’m sorry. It doesn’t.”

The Railroad still loved Piper, at least. Ann wondered how much that counted for in the end. Piper’s lips thinned to a hard line. “Fine. But if you’re going, I’m going, too. She owes me a story.”

No one would argue that. She raised an eyebrow at Ann, prompting her to speak up. “I’ll go through the tunnel,” Ann said quickly. “I should be able to get inside on my own.”

“I’m going, too,” Rita said from beside her.

Ann nearly yelped. “The hell you are.”

“You need someone who can work the Relay,” she spread her hands. “See anyone else who can do it?”

“Tom probably could,” Ann replied without really thinking about what that would be like.

Lucky for her, Tom did not need to think about it. “Oh, hell no! I ain’t goin’ in first! They got eyes on me, I know it! Once I set foot in there, it’ll be red alert.”

True or not, Ann thanked God that Tom believed it. “Okay,” she sighed, looking sadly at Rita. “But you stay close to me, okay? I don’t want you getting hurt.”

Rita grinned. “I’ll be right behind you.”

“But that’s just us,” Ann said, more to herself than anyone else. “Do we have enough people to make this work? Without Glory…”

She did not need to finish. The Railroad had been gutted. Even if this last sally against the Institute actually succeeded, as a fighting force, the Railroad no longer existed. Whatever came out of this would be something new, something unlike anything the Commonwealth had ever seen. A legion of free Synths.

“I’m in,” a woman’s voice called from the statue. Ann whipped her head around to find a familiar, scarred face staring at her.

The last time Ann had seen the woman, she had been bleeding to death in Sanctuary, her head practically split like a melon. “You made it?” was all she could manage.

The Agent laughed. “That’s right. That stimpack saved my life. I passed out after you left, woke up and found myself alone. Thought everyone had gone and gotten killed without me. Wherever you’re going, ma’am, count me in. Count all of us in.” She gestured to the group of Agents all around her. “For Des. She would have wanted us to keep going. And Nora needs to pay for what she did.” She spared a glance for Piper, then added. “One way or another.”

It was better than nothing. Ann watched as the other Agents voiced their loyalties in turn, every one of them choosing to go head-on and attack the Institute with whatever they had left. It was inspiring, in a deeply morbid, suicidal sort of way.

As the Agents began talking amongst themselves and Tom began haranguing them with plans, Piper cornered Ann near the old market. “Listen to me. I’m coming with you – no, you’re not arguing with me on this. You know I can handle myself and you know you’re going to need the help.”

Rita was standing nearby pretending to study the plant life. Ann fidgeted. “Piper, I know you’re worried –“

“I’m not worried, I’m pissed,” Piper snapped. “I cared about Des. I cared about Glory and I care about Rita. I don’t know why Nora did it but I’m not going to let anyone kill her before she tells me herself. I want to know why she killed my friends. I want the truth. So you are going to make sure she stays alive long enough to tell me.” She took a step closer so she was right up against Ann. “I know her, Ann. She wouldn’t do this. Not without a reason.”

Piper’s gaze drifted to Rita, softening even as she set her jaw. “I don’t forgive her, Ann. I loved the Railroad. If Nora killed them because she joined the Institute or… I don’t know. But she will tell me the truth. And then we’ll see.”

Ann put her hands up in surrender. “All right. I’ll make sure you get your interview.”

The levity was forced and it sounded just as hollow as it felt. Piper did not even acknowledge it. “She isn’t like this. I know her. You’ll see.”

Her tone was unshakable. Ann could not help but wonder how she did it. She had never doubted, had she? Even after everything Nora had done, she still loved her, still believed that somehow, all this would be explained away.

For her sake, Ann hoped she was right.


	24. It's All Over

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Nora and Piper each find themselves lost in thought the night before the Institute falls

Sleep eluded Nora as she lay on her back, one arm behind her head, her vacant stare wandering the ceiling. The weight on her chest made it almost impossible to breathe. Her lungs felt as though they were shriveling up and every exhalation brought new life to the question _Should I even bother with the next?_ She always did, if for no better reason than because her body was so used to it, and after a few seconds, she heard the question again in the silence of her breaths. The only other sound was the little radio in the wall tuned to pick up Diamond City. After a moment of dead air, the next song began without preamble, a man crooning over tinkling piano accompaniment.

_It’s all over, but the crying  
And nobody’s crying, but me_

Nora had been busy the last few days trying to keep her mind off what she had done. This had all been her fault, so this was the only fair way for it to end. The Railroad was coming. The Synths were armed, organized, and ready. The Institute was on alert, too, and they were closing in for the kill. Liam’s badge records had been pulled six times since yesterday afternoon. His secret, so painstakingly guarded from all who knew him, would be out in a matter of hours.

Piper would be out there, too, closing in just as surely as the Institute. So would Ann and Rita, if Rita had even survived Nora’s rough treatment. That would be something, at least. Nora tried to close her eyes and sleep with that thought. If she could focus on that just for a moment, maybe that would be enough. She had saved Rita. Piper was safe and Nat would wake up.

Her eyes closed, and all she could see was Des. She had not even been shocked when Nora pulled the trigger. The sight of her sent Nora rolling toward the edge of the bed, sick. She nearly retched aloud as she saw Glory, tears streaming from her eyes as Nora killed her, too. Two of the best women Nora had ever met, two women strong enough to stand up to everything the Wasteland had thrown at them, and Nora had killed them both. She let her head hang over the side of the bed for a long moment as the sickness ebbed away. She could not afford to be sick. Not now.

_It’s all over, but the dreaming  
Poor little dreams, that keep trying to come true_

The mattress squeaked as Nora slowly settled onto her back. For a long time, she let her lungs sit empty, answering the question that had been nagging her for so long. She just wanted to sleep again. There were so many things that haunted her dreams and she wanted so desperately for them to be gone.

There were so many things she had hidden from Piper. That night, when she had told her everything, it had not really been everything, just what she could bring herself to admit. She had done better than she had thought possible, telling Piper about things long buried, and that night she had slept better than she had in months, but there was more. Much, much more, more even than Machson’s depraved tortures.

Des and Glory were not the only faces that haunted her. Nate’s screams were not the only ones that echoed in her ears. There had been hundreds before Piper came along. Hundreds of men, women, and children, all asking her to lead them to safety in the Wasteland, and so many of them now lying in unmarked graves. Piper had tried so hard to rid her of those ghosts. A few more years and maybe she would have turned Nora into a human being again.

Even worse were those she had killed. In her rush to save her friends, she had destroyed the Prydwen almost on a whim. It had been simple at the time, just her or them, but things never were so clean. The fire had burned long and hot, melting steel beams and scorching the concrete. Nora should have been cooked alive in her elevator. But she had emerged, the sole survivor of yet another massacre, this one of her own making.

She had returned after the battle. She had never told Piper about what she had seen. Super Mutants dragging away charred corpses for their cook pots. The broken weeping of a Brotherhood scribe who had lost her family. The pile of tattered rags, once a uniform so proudly worn, covering the tiny pile of bones that plainly had been a child. All of it had settled deep in her soul, and she was sure that nothing in the world would let her forget any of it.

_It’s all over, but the crying  
And I can’t get over, crying over you_

Despite all that carnage, it was her first loss that haunted her in these final hours. Nate had been the first person she failed to protect. She had watched, helpless as he gave his life for their infant son. He had been so brave. She wanted more than anything to see him again.

What would he say to her? Could he see her, now, as she condemned Shaun to die? He had died protecting his baby, and now she was going to make sure he had died for nothing. Whether or not she pulled the trigger, her son would be dead because of her, and everything he worked for would soon be a distant memory.

This had all been her fault. After so much death, seeing her son alive had been a godsend. It had been a chance to make everything right again, a promise that things would get better and that Nora could have a future. She had tried so hard to save him. That was how she had interpreted his survival: as a message that she could still save someone, and if she tried hard enough, she could save everyone.

She closed her eyes and took a long, hard look at Des and Glory, this time watching that rare, almost impossible display of affection that had taken place in Sanctuary Hills. There had been so much promise in that moment, and there had been so much sacrifice in getting there. Speaking to Des afterward, she would never have known the fearless commander of the Railroad had someone to come home to. Dragging on a cigarette, she had finally told Nora her plan for the Institute. Nora was to infiltrate it using the Relay, and, if captured, do whatever it took to earn their trust. She had said that so many times, even repeating it before Nora had killed her. Whatever it took.

Nora had been doing whatever it took to survive for a long time. She was so very tired of it.

Thousands of individual fates remained to be sorted. The best and brightest of the Commonwealth, and what was likely the world’s best chance at a livable, sustainable future, would wake up tomorrow morning embroiled in a war they probably did not even know existed. Children who had been kissed goodnight may never feel their parents’ love again. The freedom of an entire population was waiting to be decided, and with it, a colossal and irreversible shift in the lives of everyone above ground.

Nora did not care at all. She was just too damn tired to feel anything. No one, not even Piper, could stir her emotions any longer. Perhaps it was simply a question of having lived too long.

Nora, who had made herself famous on needing only a single shot, had brought about this final act of high drama without firing any. To bring it to its close, she would need just two. One to end the war, and one to end the nightmares. She closed her eyes, listening as the song picked up the tempo, and thought about the one woman who had made this whole life of hers worth living.  
__  
It’s all over, but the crying  
And nobody’s crying, but me

 

_Friends all over, know I’m crying  
To forget about how much I care for you_

Piper had always resented this song. The Commonwealth was a harsh, unforgiving place. Any sign of weakness and you were just asking for trouble. Tears had no place here. Her tears, always shed in private and only on a few occasions, had been a secret thing. The press had no heart, no weakness. It had no family and cared about nothing but the truth.

Now the tears would not stop. Anyone else might have thought she was grieving or that she was afraid of what she might find in the Institute, and there was some truth to that, but Piper was not crying because she was hurt. She was crying because she was furious.

She was not blind. She had seen Nora murder Des and Glory right before her eyes. She had seen the other Synths, all but Rita, cut down by gunfire as they tried to surrender. And she had seen Nora’s clothing. Courser blacks only came from one place and they only meant one thing. It was enough to drive her mad, turning her world upside down as she questioned everything she ever knew about the woman she had come to love so deeply.

But she did love her, and that was what made it so horrible. There had to be an explanation. Nora would never turn to the Institute. She would never betray Piper – never – and it drove her absolutely insane that she could not find the reason for what had happened. Piper loved her and that meant she should be able to defend her from what everyone else saw as this horrible betrayal. She should have been able to argue with those who cursed her, who told Ann they were sorry for all their doubts since, clearly, she was the better one. They told her they should have always trusted her. They even asked her if it had really been her all along, and that his imposter, the woman Piper was so fond of, was the real Synth.

_It’s all over, but the dreaming  
Poor little dreams, that keep trying to come true_

Her vision began to blur and she squeezed her eyes closed. Could that be true? She had not noticed the first time. The memory made her want to scream. This could not be happening. Nora was the one person she could count on no matter what. She would always be there for her and Piper knew it. There was nothing she would not trust her with. Even Nat had grown to love her and Nat did not like anybody.

She tried to calm herself down. There was still hope. Patriot had sent that message right after Nora disappeared. It had to be from her. She was trying to make it all right. Maybe this was all something Des had planned. Even the night before the battle, when it was certain there would be no more time to make plans, she had refused to share hers with anyone. It was impossible to know what the woman had in mind for the final collapse of the Institute. The only person who might know would be Glory.

Or Nora. That had to be the answer. This had all been planned. And they would find evidence. A holotape of Des exonerating Nora. Maybe she was even still alive. It had all been staged. The bodies Piper had buried had been duplicates.

These were thin hopes, but Piper clung to them with a primal desperation. This war was her doing, and she should be the one to pay for it. Des and Glory and Nora and Natalie – God, if she was even still alive – none of them should have suffered.

_It’s all over, but the crying  
And I can’t get over, crying over you_

So she turned over, the song fading in her ears as she let a few of those secret, quiet tears stain her cheeks. Tomorrow, it would be over. She would enter the Institute, find Nora, and she would have the truth. That was what she did. Find the truth.


	25. The Lair of the Dragon

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ann and Rita attack the Institute in hopes of freeing the Synths. Piper searches for Nora

Dawn broke early the next day, its first rays revealing the open sewer Tom had been so damn excited about. No one had thought to mention was what actually inside the sewer, and after crawling ten miles in unspeakable, knee-deep filth, Ann was more than ready to get into the fight. Naturally, she had convinced herself it was suicide by the time they had gotten there, but that was just her rational side talking, and she did her best to ignore it like she always did. In any case, she was eager to get started, to free the Synths from the Institute and to free Rita from her night terrors.

It soon became clear they were not alone. Where Ann might have expected some kind of putrid Deathclaw to live, she found only exiled Synths, the kind that had probably pissed off someone important and whose only purpose in life was to watch waterborne excrement float off into the distance. As Ann’s pistol, suppressed for the occasion, snapped quietly in the shadows, she felt like she was doing them a favor.

It wasn’t long before the Institute started trying to return said favor. After blundering into what might have been the worst-smelling control room in the world, a sharp firefight between the three women and a dozen Synths ended with heavy metallic footfalls echoing all around them. The alarm raised, Ann quickened their pace and prayed for just a bit more luck. Piper sprinted along recklessly beside her, all but ignoring the enemy gunfire as she cut down Synths by the score. The lasers, Ann noticed as she cowered behind a greenish-brown pipe, seemed to be curving around Piper like water rushing around a rock.

After what felt like hours, Ann found herself shoving through an old, iron door that spilled into one of the Institute’s many clandestine side chambers. Gleefully tracking filth behind them, the three pelted up and down the maze of hallways, Rita navigating them toward the Relay by memory alone. Ann wasn’t bothered by that and if Piper had any doubts, she kept them to herself.

When they finally burst through another of those maintenance doors inside the Relay room, Ann had barely caught her footing before a Courser dropped from the ceiling. She was so startled that her first burst went wide and its return fire was close enough that she could smell her hair burning. Her second volley proved more skillful and the Courser went down in a heap. Rita shoved her way toward the console and began hammering away. Ann scuttled toward the end of the room, eyeing the open vent suspiciously.

“What the hell was he doing up there?” Ann muttered, peering upward as though the Courser had left a note helpfully explaining his decision.

Piper passed her without interest, stopping by the elevator long enough to look down through the glass. “The elevator’s stopped.”

“Mechanical trouble?” There was no way they had gotten that lucky. Ann looked to Piper. Her lips drawn to a fine line, she said nothing, but Ann thought she saw something in those eyes. She took a step closer to Piper, opening her mouth to reassure her that this was exactly what she had been hoping for.

Blue light and the sharp crack of thunder filled the chamber. Both Ann and Piper swung around to see figures appear on the Relay pad. Rita, perched on her tiptoes to see over the monitors, waved in delight. The first figure to materialize was the woman Ann had saved in Sanctuary, and hard on her heels was the unmistakable Tinker Tom. Ann noted with some satisfaction that he had actually put on a shirt for the occasion.

“Sparks!” Tom rounded the console and clapped Rita on the shoulder. Rita was beaming. “You done great! What kind of control we got?”

Rita started pointing to dials and switches and bubbling with very long words. Ann found herself distracted by Piper’s pacing no matter how badly she wanted to listen. The poor woman was going crazy, cooped up in here. She wanted to go looking for Nora. As more Railroad Agents began pouring through the Relay, Ann wandered toward the far end of the room to join her.

“Hey,” she said, too softly for anyone but Piper to hear. “You doing okay?”

“No,” Piper growled, her teeth clenched. “I need to get out of here, Ann. Nora’s in here and she needs help. She stopped the elevator, I know it. And I think she’s stopping the alarms, too. I haven’t heard any and we haven’t exactly been quiet.”

A few Agents began fanning out, poking their heads through the maintenance door Ann had tumbled through a moment ago. Rita was talking about the elevator and restoring functionality while Tom pinched his chin and nodded. They made a good pair, and for a moment Ann found herself enthralled by the little woman. Rita was here, in her element, and no one who saw her could doubt it.

“We’ll find her,” Ann promised.

“No, you won’t,” Piper said, her eyes gleaming. “I’m going to find her on my own. She’ll talk to me. If I’m going to get the truth out of her, it has to be me. Just me.” She paused, her eyes softening for just a moment. “I owe her that.”

That was the look that had melted Ann’s heart in the first place, and it was doing the same thing now. She wanted to ask what Nora had ever done to earn Piper’s love in the first place, but she realized now it did not matter. Piper loved her, and Piper did not give her love away cheaply. Nora had earned it and that alone made her special. It made her worthy of it simply because it had already been given, honestly and in good faith.

Ann wished she had realized that sooner. “All right,” she sighed, looking back at the mob now assembling around Tom and Rita. “I’ll make sure no one follows you. And if I find Nora,” she paused, then shrugged. “I’ll think of something, I guess. Or Rita will. But you’ll see her again. I promise.”

Piper gave her a weary but almost warm smile. “Thank you.”

Sparing one more look for the elevator, Piper turned to wrap Ann in her arms. Ann awkwardly hugged her back, one arm still holding her rifle at her side. Piper squeezed her tightly and rested her chin on her shoulder. “Take care of Rita, all right?”

Ann laughed softly as Piper gently pulled away. “She’s the one taking care of me. You know that.”

“Just don’t make her job too hard,” Piper said. “Whatever happens after this.”

“Like I said,” Ann chuckled, turning back toward the red-haired girl. “She’s the one taking care of me. She’ll figure something out.”

They strode back toward the Relay, side by side, an improbable pair of liberators for the Synths of the Institute. “I know,” Piper murmured.

As they reached the edge of the group, Rita herself turned to face them. She beamed at Ann, warming the room as she did. “Tom’s got a plan for getting us control of the Institute.”

“Well, actually, Sparks here came up with it, but I’ll lay it down for you. We got Relay control. That’s good, but we need more. We need a way to spread the good word to the people. So we gotta take over some place with an intercom. We put somebody’s voice in every room, telling the Synths its time to fight, and we got ourselves our very own grassroots rebellion.”

As Tom bounced and gesticulated, Rita folded her arms in pride. “All we have to do is find a place with an intercom, even better if they can’t shut us off easily.”

Ann grinned broadly. “Great. Where are we going?”

“SRB,” Tom said easily.

Ann watched Rita’s face, looking for the flicker of fear she knew had to be there. Nothing showed. She was ready, and if she was ready, Ann was ready. Rita just nodded. “They should have an override for most of the Institute’s systems, which hopefully includes the intercom. They might even have access to some of the automated defenses. If anyone is controlling the older generation Synths, it’s the SRB.”

Controlling the older generation Synths. It was not something Ann was comfortable with and judging by the way Rita’s mouth twisted, she hated it just as much. No one liked seeing their brothers and sisters brainwashed. Shutting them down would be a mercy. And it would save lives.

“Okay, sounds like we’re going to SRB.”

Rita grinned. “Tom’s agreed to stay here and operate the Relay.”

Ann opened her mouth to protest, knowing what Rita was about to say, but Tom beat her to the punch. “Sparks’ll be better with the Institute gizmos than me on the first go. I know the Relay, but she knows the Institute. She’ll do better than me any day.”

It was staunch praise from a man whose opinion of himself was little short of divine. Ann found herself struggling to do little more than sputter. “It’s dangerous,” she finally managed.

The understatement failed to do more than raise Rita’s eyebrows. Without even waiting for an answer, Ann cast a pleading look at the ceiling before making surrendering gestures with her arms. Rita beamed. When Ann thought about it, this was probably for the best. This way, she could protect Rita directly. The Institute had already shown that, elevator or not, this room was not safe. If a Courser dropped from the ceiling behind Rita, Ann trusted no one else to keep her safe.

No one, ironically, except for Nora. “So, how are we getting out of here? The elevator’s still stuck.”

“Back through the maintenance shaft,” Rita said, pointing to the door. “There are parts of the Institute they don’t use anymore. We can get to the SRB from there.”

Then there was no time to lose. Ann led the way, Piper on her heels and a dozen Railroad Agents in tow. Immediately there was trouble. Heavily-armed Synths filled the abandoned wings with laser fire so intense the tunnels glowed a solid blue. Ann scrambled forward, ducking behind a solid-looking cluster of pipes and shooting around the corner at anything chrome. Railroad Agents fanned out to both sides, shooting from the hip as they darted for cover. This was how Ann had imagined things going and this was exactly how it was not supposed to happen. There was no way they could win against the Institute in a straight fight.

Rita was crouching beside her with her head down, stooped in a comical waddle just like the rest of them. Peeping through the pipes, Ann could see the battlefield clearly enough to be discouraged. The Railroad was confined to small salient around the door they had just opened. On the other side of the pipes, Ann could see open air and the far side of a vast, metallic trench. On the far side of the trench, Synths held the heights and swarmed on the floor below, darting into the shadows and no doubt making for a thousand hidden doors that would carry them behind the invaders.

Heavy guns boomed on both sides as the Railroad took revenge for years of skulking in the shadows. Synths at the far side of the trench toppled from massed minigun fire and grenades lobbed with superhuman strength. Ann watched for a moment, taking a few pot shots at snipers on the far rail.

“Where to now?” she asked Rita.

Rita was calm and collected. “Follow the catwalk to the left,” she said, pointing across her chest and down the wall. “There’s a maintenance shaft that should bring us up behind the main door.”

“Lucky us,” Ann quipped, though in truth she could scarcely believe her luck. She had always imagined the Institute as an impregnable fortress and yet here they were, scurrying through abandoned tunnels and forgotten side rooms. It was less a fortress and more a Mole Rat’s lair.

More laser fire sent Ann scrunching down closer to the floor. Rita was smiling. “We’re so close.”

Ann smiled. “Yeah. Almost over, now,” she said before pausing to look around. “Where’s Piper?”

In answer to her question, Ann glimpsed a flash of deep red between another stack of the ubiquitous gray pipes. Rita had seen it, too, and helpfully pointed. “Are you going to stop her?”

“From finding Nora?” Ann asked with a chuckle. “Hell no. I like my head attached, thank you very much.”

Rita smiled broadly. “Good.”

The moment was broken by a sudden blast and the sharp, anguished screams of the dying. Ann watched a squad of nasty-looking Synths punch their way through two Railroad Heavies in a matter of seconds. They turned toward Ann, their rifles raised. Ann pivoted, raising her own and knowing in her heart she was going to be too late.

The Synths dropped like empty sacks, sparks bursting from their chests as blue fire stitched their chests. Ann whipped her head around in disbelief to see their side of the trench teeming with life. Synths in orange arm-bands came boiling from every corner, cradling laser rifles that they seemed intent on using. Some fired across the trench at their erstwhile brethren while others flitted among the Railroad Agents, their hands raised in calming gestures as they tended to the wounded and shored up those still standing.

Some of the Agents began pointing toward Ann and Rita. Ann groaned. “Since when are we in charge?”

“What we?” Rita said, poking her head above the pipes as the firing died down. “I’m just here for tech support.”

Before Ann could appropriately argue the insanity of that statement, a female Synth with an orange scarf marched over to their little shelter. Ann, still squatting behind her beloved shelter, began to feel a bit silly in the face of such brash disregard for certain death.

“You’re the one in charge of the Railroad?” she asked, stopping in front of the still-crouching Ann and refusing to stoop even as Institute fire still swept overhead. “A pleasure to meet you. I am D5.”

She extended one hand, which Ann awkwardly took from her position near D5’s knees. Apparently only Rita noticed how absurd all of this was and was now shaking with mirth, one delicate hand balled up over her mouth. Ann tried to glare at Rita but she had long since given up trying to be angry with the girl. So Ann just shook D5’s outstretched hand and tried not to think about how very strange it all looked or how all of this was happening very close to her new friend’s crotch.

“I’m Ann,” she said, pointedly declining to use her old designation. “This is Rita. She’s more in charge than I am.”

D5 turned and shook Rita’s hand as well. Rita, determined to make Ann look silly, stood up before taking the woman’s hand. As if in deference to the moment, the last of the Institute defenders fled the room, their fire dying on a note. Ann got to her feet, still hunched and ready to pull Rita back to cover if the enemy returned.

“We’ve heard a lot about you,” D5 said, still clasping Rita’s hand. “It’s an honor to finally meet you.”

“You – you’ve heard of me?” Rita stammered.

“Everyone has. We all saw the video of your Recall. We saw what happened when you started asking questions,” D5 said, her voice turning sympathetic. “We all knew it was happening but actually seeing it made it impossible to ignore.” She put a hand on Rita’s shoulder as the girl stood, dumbfounded. “And that you came back is nothing short of inspirational. You saved another Synth and joined the Railroad and now you’ve come back for the rest of us. We weren’t going to sit around and wait for you to save us. We wanted to help.”

D5 probably meant well, but judging by Rita’s expression, the knowledge that her Recall was now a feature film left her incredibly uncomfortable. Ann tried to sidle between the two women and give Rita room to breathe. “So what happened? Where did you get all the guns?”

“We made them,” D5 said, releasing Rita’s hand and turning to Ann. Rita physically backed away looking ill. “We were able to take over some of the tunnels. With some help from inside, we got all the parts we needed to start making our own weapons.”

That had to be Nora. Piper would be delighted to hear that, or at least Ann hoped so. She had more questions, but since the clock was ticking and Rita had been reprieved, Ann saw little point in asking how this whole revolution mess had fallen together. Instead, she kept it brief. “What happens now?”

“We’re trying to take control of Advanced Systems,” D5 said, gesturing over her shoulder. “Once we’re there, we should have everything we need to control the Institute.”

“What about the SRB?” Ann asked.

D5 shook her head. “Too many Coursers. They have their own private army. We can’t go up against them, not on our own.”

“Does Advanced Systems have control of the intercom?” Rita asked, surprising Ann and turning D5’s attention back to her.

“It does.”

Rita, her face once again shining with bright rays of optimism, looked to Ann. “Then that’s where we should be going.”

“You’re looking for the intercom?” D5 cocked her head. “Are you planning on addressing the rest of the Synths?”

Rita nodded. “I am.”

Ann nearly jumped in front of her again. What did D5 have in mind? Rita was here to wire things up, not dredge up her darkest moments for the benefit of complete strangers. “Rita –“

“If they know who I am, I might be able to keep them from fighting,” Rita said, raising one hand toward the protesting Ann. “It’s all right. I want to help.”

She resisted the urge to point out that ‘I want to help’ would look less heroic when it was carved on her tombstone, but there it was. Rita always wanted to help. It was how she lived her life. “Okay,” Ann said, turning to D5. “Lead the way.”

Advanced Systems was packed with dead Synths. Ann had expected to see dead scientists but, to her great surprise, the free Synths had corralled them in one of the labs, refusing either to kill them or even club them senseless. Most of them seemed docile enough, staring wide-eyed through their cage at the rebellious robots. They looked so bewildered that Ann wanted to go over to them and slap them across the face. Was this news to them? Did they imagine Synths lived happily with the threat of death hanging over them day and night?

One kept trying to talk to the passing Synths, insisting he had believed in their freedom all along. It probably would have sounded more convincing if he wasn’t locked behind a sheet of thick glass. A few days earlier and he would have been a revolutionary. Once this was all over, she supposed they would be forced to sort out who saw them as equals and who saw them as especially talented pets, but that day remained far away.

As Ann poked her head around corners to make sure no one was lurking, she heard Rita murmuring soothing words behind her. Of course, Rita had walked right up to the captured scientists. “It’s going to be all right,” she said sweetly. “You’re safe. No one is going to hurt you. We just want to talk.”

Some of the scientists glared. The talkative one started gibbering so wildly that he would have probably kissed Rita’s boots if not for the glass. It was a disturbing sight. When Ann had imagined assaulting the Institute, she had not actually considered what to do with all the humans. She had imagined them with bloodshot eyes and evil hearts, ripping innocent Synths apart with their hands. It might have been easier if that had been the truth of it.

D5 was directing her Synths like she had done this a million times. After settling her people in and sending a large group to secure the main door – the last of the Railroad Agents eagerly took up positions just outside – she turned to Rita. “We have access to the intercom. If you’re willing to speak, we can broadcast you throughout the Institute. Only Father can override it.”

If Nora really was helping them, Ann did not imagine Father would have much attention to spare for them. Rita smiled easily. “Then I’ll have to talk fast.”

Rita walked over to where D5 was standing. Gesturing to a microphone on the table, D5 stepped aside and let Rita through. “Just tell them what they need to hear,” she said, shrugging as though nothing could be easier. “They’ll listen to you.”

Ann had quietly sidled up to Rita and now leaned over the console, hoping the microphone was still off. “Are you sure you want to do this?” she asked softly. “You don’t have to go through this. You’ve done enough.”

She was not really asking and she did not really expect an answer, but she got one anyway. Rita turned her gaze on Ann, her eyes warm and comfortable, and slipped one hand into Ann’s. “I’m sure. Thank you.”

With her free hand, Rita flicked a switch on the table. A little green light blinked on beside the microphone and the room filled with the deep silence of dead air as the intercom switched on. Rita leaned down, a few strands of her brilliant hair falling over her eyes and cheekbones. When she spoke, her voice was confident, clear, and perfectly calm.

“People of the Institute. This is the Railroad. We do not come here today as conquerors or as liberators, but as free people.”

 

Rita’s voice boomed over the intercom. “WE MEAN YOU NO HARM. WE ARE HERE TO SAVE YOU. PLEASE, IF YOU ARE SCARED, LOCK YOUR DOOR. STAY SAFE. YOU DON’T HAVE TO FIGHT. NO ONE, SYNTH OR HUMAN, IS OUR ENEMY TODAY. IF YOU BELIEVE ALL SYNTHS DESERVE LIFE, YOU HAVE NOTHING TO FEAR FROM US. WE WILL PROTECT YOU. AND WE WILL SET YOU FREE.”

Piper ran through the halls like a ghost. The Institute was ignoring her, its Coursers and robotic death machines rolling passed like she was invisible. Some even stopped for her, waiting until she moved out of the hall before thundering on. It was a strange, surreal experience, and it seemed the perfect ending for this ongoing nightmare. None of it mattered to her anymore. After years of hard fighting to bring the Institute to justice, at the climax of her own story, she had completely lost interest. In the face of a new world dominated by free Synths and rid once and for all of the Institute, Piper Wright had become irrelevant. No one cared about her paper, even if it had gotten the whole thing started, and so it was just as well that she found no reason to care about them. Only her family mattered now, and the last of it was here, somewhere, on the wrong side of the battle line.

Things that normally would have captivated could now barely turn her gaze. She loped through quiet corridors, the only sound the terrified sobbing of those heeding Rita’s words and staying behind closed doors. She peered through windows just long enough to see if Nora was inside before rushing on, almost oblivious to whatever she had seen. The Institute’s secrets were all around her. She had been right; none of them had stayed hidden forever. Her haste only gave them a little more time in the dark.

That was what she told herself, at least, when those thoughts did intrude. She passed a room swept with the red light of a siren. The carnage inside had become almost commonplace as free Synths grappled with their oppressors in every corner of the compound, and bodies lay strewn in every conceivable depiction of a life ended too soon. Coursers died with their weapons in hand, the barrels smoking and a pile of dead Synths at their feet. In turn, free Synths by the hundreds fell before them with everything from sniper rifles to hand tools clutched in their fists, defiant to the end.

This room caught her eye, as too many did, only because one of the bodies caused her heart to skip a beat. The lithe figure all in black, motionless on the ground, a stain of dark, horrible red spreading from her chest or staining her hair. Piper would rush in, heart hammering, to roll the body over, finding the wrong eyes or lips or cheeks every time. Then she would be back in the hall, running on, never quite finding relief that some other Synth had died, Courser or otherwise. She had not found Nora, and that meant the next body could be hers.

On and on it went, through the dead halls and the living. Complete silence would reign in one corridor only to give way to screaming sheets of laser fire the moment Piper opened the far door. Sometimes she helped, popping away at Coursers from behind their own lines. None of them so much as turned to face her as she cut them down. After a few moments spent furthering the war of independence, Piper would scurry on. Railroad dead littered the halls alongside their enemies, as well as more than a few white lab coats now tattered and stained with red.

This was the face of truth, Piper thought as she ran. She had known it would be ugly, but this beggared imagination. Part of her frantically wanted to turn and help. As much as she hated the Institute, there was life here. There were people, children, families who deserved a chance above ground and would almost certainly help the unwashed savages they had spent so long fearing. If only they were given the chance. If only the avenging army of the Railroad could be stayed.

Was this her legacy, then? Blood-slicked tile? A great center of learning turned to nothing more than a tomb?

She could not think about it, not now. Her legacy did not matter right now. All that mattered was the future she had been promised and had spent so long promising in turn to Nora. They deserved a happy ending. She knew it. It just came down to these last moments. She just had to hold on a little longer. She could still save something.

The dead lay lighter the farther she ran. She began to see the living once again, terrified faces peeping from doors or cowering behind tables. Children were shushed by tearful mothers when they asked what was wrong. A few more doors and she was beyond the reach of the battle. Grand atriums filled with plants and tiny, babbling streams now greeted her. Staircases of immaculate white spiraled up and up toward tiny suns glowing pleasantly in the ceiling. Was this what the Old World had looked like?

Without knowing where she was going, Piper found a flight of stairs and began to climb. If Nora was anywhere, it would be here, in the heart of the Institute. She would find her alone, grinning, probably standing next to Des and Glory and wondering what was taking Piper so long to join them. Had she not figured it out? These imaginings did nothing to ease the terror in her heart. No matter how wishful her thinking grew, she could not bring herself to be carried away.

Piper turned the corner at the top of the stairs, rushing passed open doors and peering through windows to find long, glass tables with dozens of chairs along the sides. Enormous televisions adorned many of the walls and more of those frightened eyes peeped from behind chairs at almost every turn. It could not be much farther now. This was the end. It had to be.

The hallway turned to a dead end just beyond. Cursing, Piper nearly turned around before noticing the far door. Unlike the others, this one was made of glass, and Piper could make out what must have been Father’s office on the other side. It bore a striking resemblance to the Mayor’s office in Diamond City with its entire far wall removed. In its place was pane after pane of polished glass so clear it did not even seem real. Piper could see fires crackling in the buildings across the courtyard.

She stopped in the hallway, staring motionless at the figure silhouetted by the flames. The Courser leathers, the dark hair, the pistol hanging limply from one hand. She would have known it anywhere.

Nora.


	26. Shaun

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Nora confronts her son

Nora stepped quietly into her son’s quarters, the latch on the door clicking behind her. The Courser outside did not seem to care that she had gone in. There were more important things going on than Nora paying a visit to Father. She wondered what was going on in its head right now. Was it listening to Rita’s voice? Or was it just white noise that it did not quite know how to process? She had been tempted to stop and ask it, to do anything in the world to buy herself time. Anything would have been better than this.

Father – no, Shaun – paced along the far wall, his brow furrowed and fists clenched. He was furious. He did not even look up as she entered. Nora watched him for a moment, again trying in vain to stave off the inevitable. This was her son. Everything he had built, everything he had done, surely he had kept the best of intentions in mind.

“How?” he was grumbling as he paced. “How did they get in? How could they have possibly – the tunnels? Were they sealed? Were they checked? As though it matters any longer. I’ll –“ He looked up, spotting Nora for the first time. “Mother.” He stopped pacing, his eyes going softer. “You’re not hurt are you?”

He was such a sweet boy. Always thinking of his mother, even as his world fell apart. Even as his mother tore his world apart. “No,” she said, lying as she smiled. “I’m all right.”

She was anything but all right. Shaun nodded and went back to pacing. “Good. At least that’s something. My Coursers will have this under control soon enough, Mother, I promise. Damned embarrassing, actually. I wish we’d caught the traitor sooner, but perhaps this is for the best.”

“Sooner?”

“Yes,” Father said. “One of the techs, a Liam something-or-other. Binet. We found some of his access records that seemed suspicious. I had him seized just before the Railroad arrived in force. He confessed not long after.”

Nora did not ask what had happened after he had been seized. Once again, she had been too slow, too obvious, too uncaring. She could have saved his life. Instead, it was just one more pile of bones at her feet.

She had to try. She couldn’t stand by idly, not any longer. She had to do something. “It doesn’t have to end like this, Shaun.”

Her son was shaking his head. “Nothing is ending. This is just a setback, nothing more. We’ll have it under control soon, I assure you.”

“It isn’t a setback,” she said calmly. “The Synths are rebelling. All of them. I’ve seen them. The Coursers can’t stop them. It’s over.”

“Nothing,” Father hissed. “Is over.” The voice was not her son’s, but that of the Institute’s tyrannical leader, and even then she could not believe what she was hearing. This was Shaun. “They won’t stop until they tear down the Institute and everything we have built lies in ruin. That’s why we had to make the Synths in the first place.”

“They don’t want to destroy you, Shaun,” Nora said, pleading that God, for just one moment, would return her son to her. “They don’t want to hurt you. They just want to be free. If you let them go –“

“If I let them go?” Shaun echoed, so shocked he had stopped typing and now stared at the keyboard as though trying to make sense of it. “No. No, I can’t do that. Mother, please understand that we built them. They are our creation. We know them. They are not human, no matter how much they think they are. They cannot handle the world above. More importantly, they are too valuable to the Institute to simply let them loose over a question as insane as their free will. I’m sorry, Mother, but that is simply the way it is.” Regaining his composure, Shaun resumed typing, his voice softer. “I promise, once you spend a little more time with us, you’ll see it just as clearly as I do.”

Nora stood, rooted in place, waiting in vain for some divine hand to reach down and intervene. That was how this was supposed to go. Her son was supposed to change the world, to be perfect and good and make everything right again. That was what children were supposed to do. This was all wrong.

She heard Shaun begin mumbling as a camera feed appeared on the screen. “Oh, of course she’s here.”

Nora caught sight of her own image kneeling behind a pile of metallic rubble and firing a rifle toward the bottom of the screen. Beside her was an unmistakable mop of red hair, the sight of which should have stirred Nora. It did nothing. Rita was alive, but Des and Glory were not. Her survival did not cleanse Nora’s soul, only prevented it from rotting away completely.

After a few moments, Ann moved on, a group of Synths with rifles advancing in loose ranks behind her. This was the end. It was time. No more hesitating. No more loss. No one else would suffer because of her.

“I had some questions I needed to ask you.” Her voice was surprisingly steady as she spoke, but it was lifeless even to her own ears.

“Of course,” Shaun mumbled. “Of course, Mother, but I really should see to the Institute. We’ve been betrayed, and I will not stand for it.” He crossed the room to a terminal on the far wall, wrinkled hands tapping away at the keys. “There must be something I missed. Someone I missed.”

“When you had me released from the Vault,” Nora asked, forcing the words up even as they scratched and burned. This was the easiest of the questions and still she could hardly manage it. “Why did you do it?”

“Mother, I’m not sure this is the best time.”

“Please,” she said, begging her son to contradict her, to give her a way out. “It’s important.”

“It was an experiment,” Shaun said, his fingers still clicking on the keys.

That was it. That was all he offered in defense of what had happened. Nora blinked, not entirely believing it. “Why?”

“I wanted to see if someone from the Old World would survive. I had every confidence that you would make the best test subject,” he said, absently smiling. “And you did. You performed admirably.”

“I mean why did you wake me up like that? Alone? With – with your father. Shaun, you have no idea how much I suffered just getting here. If you had been there, or if you had sent someone to help me… Do you have any idea what I went through?”

Shaun sighed but did not stop typing. “I know, Mother, I know. And I’m sorry. I wish it could have been different, but that was the experiment. And you survived in spite of it all. You did so well. I’m so proud of you.”

Nora wanted to stop. She wanted to leave almost as much as she wanted to grab her son by the shirt and shake him. This was not how he was supposed to treat her. This was not what his father would have wanted for him. The more she told herself that, the more it hurt. His father had never had a chance to raise him, to teach him how to behave, what was right.

She could not stop. She had to keep going.

“And Machson?” she forced herself to ask. “Did you know what he was doing?”

Now Shaun did stop typing, his hands coming to rest on the keyboard as he sighed. “Machson was a monster. A freak. When I learned he had taken you, I ordered him to stop his experiments and free you.” He paused, casting a sorrowful look over his shoulder. “He did not, as you are well aware. I am truly sorry you fell into his hands.”

“So you didn’t know?”

“I knew he was researching new methods of architecting Synth neural pathways with the end result of building a more – what you might call emotionally intuitive Synth. Something capable of interacting with its surroundings more readily, more like a human. What I did not know was his target. I knew your association with that damned newspaper would attract attention but I thought I had more time. I never thought he would be so bold in…” Shaun paused, his face growing even older, even more exhausted. “I’m sorry.”

He was sorry. It was not what Nora had expected to hear. What did that say of her? Did she believe in her son at all anymore? Should she believe in him? She had wanted this to be easy. She had wanted him to know, to tell her it was all part of another experiment and that she had performed so admirably. It would have been easier.

But that was what the third question was for. The last one, the worst of all, and the one she had scarcely been able to drive from her mind from the moment that Courser had led her to her son.

Nora’s voice was no longer steady. It was a soft, terribly fragile thing that shook in a breeze only she could feel. “Mayor McDonough. He was a Synth.”

Shaun said nothing. His fingers still clicked away, his eyes on the terminal.

“He tried to kill Piper.”

“I never ordered him to kill Piper,” Shaun said absently. “He had been obsessed with her for years. I never ordered him to go after her, I…” He paused, something catching his eye on the screen. Nora thought she recognized it. She saw her name in the corner. Timestamps lined the page and small blurbs of text filled the center. Her access logs.

Part of her was glad. If this was how it had to end, she wanted it to be like this. No more secrets. Now Shaun knew who his mother was, just like Nora knew her son. Even if she did not want to face it.

“He shot Nat.”

Shaun straightened to his full height. He had gotten so tall, but in these last moments, he looked old, stooped, and frail. “Yes.”

Nora waited for an apology. It never came. “The Institute found us – the Railroad – after that. When Piper went to join them. The Institute followed us.”

It was not a question, and Shaun did not answer. He simply sighed. His hands were shaking. He still did not turn around.

Finally, Nora finished it. “You knew, didn’t you? You knew how to make Piper lead you to the Railroad. You told him to do it. You told him to hurt Natalie.”

Shaun spoke, still facing the terminal, his voice broken and defeated. “I had to end the war, Mother. I had to do something. Some sacrifice had to be made.”

The words could have been spoken by either of them. Nora closed her eyes, then forced them open. She would not hide from this. She had to do this. No matter how painful. No matter how horrible. This was her fault. All of it. She had to end it. One shot. That would end it.

Her son finally turned, his face expressionless. “I’m sorry, Mother.”

“So am I.”

One shot. That was all it took. For one brief moment, her hand stopped shaking. She made it steady. She made it quick. The flash blinded her. The sound tore through her ribs and pulled her heart from her chest, sending her staggering backward.

Her son fell to the floor, dead.

Nora fell with him, dropping to her knees and coughing madly. The tears blinded her as she fell, her limbs too weak to support her any longer. She tried to be sick but nothing came up. She just coughed and coughed, rocking back on her knees and wishing she would wake up. Piper, Nate, someone had to do it. Someone had to wake her up. This nightmare was too much for her.

No one came. No voice echoed in her ears telling her it was a dream. No gentle hand on her shoulder brought her back to a kinder world. This was her world. It was not the one she had chosen, but it was the one she had made. This had all been her fault. Her son was dead because she could not save him. So many were dead because of her.

Her legs shook as Nora forced herself up. She staggered to the terminal. Just a little farther. Her fingers trembled so badly the keys rattled. Her vision still swam as she tried to stop the tears. Just a little longer. She had to do this. No more killing. Not for her. Not for her son. The characters on the screen appeared on their own. One command to shut down the Synths, to reset them and make them listen. That was all it took. And only her son could do it. Only him.

Nora hit return, and stepped away. There. She had saved someone. The Synths would stop fighting, now. At least some would. Only a few left. Only the SRB. It was enough. It had to be enough.

She did not remember leaving. She was in the hallway, staggering drunkenly, using the wall to hold herself up. Coursers watched her in confusion. Some had just shut down. Others wandered aimlessly. The halls were quiet except for the sound of distant fighting. That was all Nora could do. That was the best she could do, and even now she had not been perfect.

Shaun’s office opened in front of her. The glass door hissed open and Nora dragged herself inside. She was not sure why she had come here. She did not know what to do now. It was supposed to be over. But it kept going. It made no sense.

Her pistol appeared in her hand. That was it. That was why she was still here. She had not taken the second shot. The one that would end the nightmares. It was the only thing left to her, to someone who had killed her best friends and murdered her own son. The war was over. It was all over but the shooting.

She did not hear the door slide open, but she did hear the voice, and it stopped her just as surely as a bullet.

It was Piper’s. “Nora?”


	27. The Woman Out of Time

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Piper confronts Nora

She stood there for a long time, just staring out the window in silence. The door hissed closed again but neither woman moved. Nora stood, riveted in place less by the finality of what was about to happen and more by the horror that Piper would now have to witness it.

It was Piper who spoke first, the single word breaking the silence without shattering it. “Why?”

Nora stared through the glass, unmoving. This was not how it was supposed to go. “You weren’t supposed to see this,” she said softly.

“See what?” Piper asked, her voice again pointed. “Was I not supposed to see you kill Des and Glory, either? You owe me some answers. After everything I have seen, you owe me a reason.” Her breath caught. It was the slightest of sounds, but Nora heard it like a ringing bell. “Why did you do it? Everything we went through, all the times we talked about making things better, did all that mean anything to you? Do I mean anything to you? I trusted you. I told everyone they were wrong about you, so you are going to start talking!”

As much as Nora wanted to keep her back to Piper, she found herself turning to face her. She did owe her answers. If ever she had loved Piper, and she did love Piper, she owed her the truth. Piper stood in the middle of the room, her eyes red and angry. Her hair fell in tangles that tried their best to make her look disheveled but only made her look more beautiful. Sleepless, haggard, and on her feet by will alone, Piper was every inch the proud, unstoppable survivor that Nora wished she could be.

So Nora tried again to be more like her. “He’s my son,” she said, finding herself shrugging at the sheer insanity of the statement. “Father. The man in charge here. He was my son.”

Piper’s eyes softened. That was the most amazing thing about her. Nora could never figure out how anyone who had grown up in this sun-blasted nightmare could be so compassionate while still being so strong. It was something she would have dedicated her life to finding out. “Nora,” she murmured.

“I fucked up, Pipes,” Nora said, trying her best to keep the words from pouring out in a great flood. “I was so happy to have him back that I forgot about everything else. I thought this, this is what I survived for; saving my son. Everything else just didn’t matter. I saw what he was doing and I told myself it was okay because it wasn’t really his fault. I thought that I could save him because I was his mother.”

Piper clenched her teeth. “You wouldn’t do that. Not for anyone. I know you.”

It would have been so easy just to agree, to say what Piper wanted to hear. Maybe she should have. Piper had earned her happily ever after. “I’m sorry. I thought it had to be a mistake. He’s my son, he couldn’t be involved in something like this. And by the time I woke up, it was too late. I couldn’t stop them from going to Bunker Hill. I couldn’t stop Des from…”

“It is a mistake,” Piper said quietly. “What happened to him, it wasn’t your fault. The Institute took him. They turned him into someone else.”

“Is that what you would say if they took Nat?”

Piper flinched. “I –“

“I forgot about him, Piper. I left him here, alone, with the Institute. While I was off feeling sorry for myself about Nate, he was here. They had a lifetime with him while I just slept,” Nora’s eyes fell to the floor. Her fingers clenched at the gun in her hand. “I should have escaped. I should have saved him.”

“Nora –“

“And then when I finally did get out, I went on a guilt trip. I saved other families – or I tried to since most of them are dead, too – and then I went on killing more and more when I should have just been here. How many people have I killed, Piper? The Brotherhood? All those men and women? And their children?”

Piper shook her head, shouting in defiance. “It wasn’t like that! You saved me, you helped things get better! You’ve done so much good and that’s just while I’ve been with you. That has to mean something, doesn’t it?”

“It doesn’t mean anything. Look around you,” Nora said, looking over her shoulder at the little homes burning in the background. “I couldn’t even save this place. Everything my son worked for and it’s going up in smoke.”

“That’s not your fault,” Piper said, punctuating her words with a shake of her pistol. She always liked to talk with her hands. “What they did here deserved to be stopped. Your son thought he was doing the right thing. Remember that. Just don’t forget everything the Railroad was fighting for.”

Nora wanted to laugh. “I don’t give a damn about the Railroad. I didn’t care about the Synths or their struggle or any of it. I just wanted you. I wanted my life back.”

Piper lowered her gun, putting one hand out to the side as though she could take Nora’s gun from across the room. “Tell me what happened. Just talk to me. If you tell me why you did it, I can help you. We can fix this.”

“We can’t, Piper,” Nora said, almost laughing. “My son is dead. I killed him. I killed him and there’s nothing I can do to bring him back.” Piper was giving her a sympathetic look, something Nora had to stop. She didn’t deserve looks like that. “Piper, it’s my fault. All of it. I killed Des. The whole damn Railroad saw me, I can’t come back from that.”

“Yes, you can. I remember everything you did for them. The battle against the Brotherhood? All the fighting in the streets, where you stayed behind to save everyone? At Sanctuary Hills? Glory used to tell me about all the times you saved her. So did Des and all the other Agents. They can’t just forget about that, I won’t let them.”

Nora turned her face to the floor so Piper would not see her wan smile. “Piper –“

“Would letting you die change anything?” Piper insisted. “Would that bring Des and Glory back? Would it save anyone else? They wouldn’t want this. They wanted you to finish it, to bring down the Institute and that’s exactly what you did. They understood, I know they did. And I know they would want you to walk away. They’d want you to live. I know it.”

The pistol hung heavy in Nora’s hand, unwilling to be lifted. She wanted to drop it. She wanted to run into Piper’s arms and bawl her eyes out. She wanted to go home. “Please,” Nora said, her voice trembling. “Piper. I need to do this.”

“No, you don’t.”

“I do,” Nora insisted, fighting with the tears now threatening her eyes. “It has to end like this. Everyone wants me dead – the Railroad, the Brotherhood, everyone. You can’t keep looking over your shoulder your whole life. What if something happened to you? Or to Nat?”

Piper shook her head. “Nothing’s going to happen to us. That’s what you do, remember? You keep us safe.”

“I’m not that person anymore,” Nora said, her heart pleading to be closer to Piper’s. She wanted to be that person again but it was impossible. That woman was dead a dozen times over; burning in the Prydwen, frozen in the Vault, shot to death beside her son. “I’m not the woman you fell in love with. I haven’t been her for a long time. I just killed my son. I joined the Institute. God, Piper, I’m so tired. I haven’t slept in so long.” She cut off, her breathing ragged as she tried to collect herself. “Please. Just let me do this.”

“Nora,” Piper said, taking a quiet step forward. “Everyone thinks you joined the Institute. But you didn’t. You were just trying to save your son, weren’t you? You were trying to save everyone.”

Nora nodded. “For all the good it did.”

“I think it did a lot of good,” Piper said quickly, her voice still cool and soothing. “I know you wanted it to be perfect but you kept trying, didn’t you? You got us inside. You told Tom about the tunnels. And I’ll bet you armed the Synths here, too, didn’t you?”

Again, Nora tried to nod. She knew what Piper was trying to do and she loved her for it, but she was trying to save someone already dead. “I had to do something. After what Des said and after what I did to her and Glory. And Rita. I’m… I’m glad she’s alive.”

Piper took another step as Nora’s lips twitched in an unbidden smile. Rita had a way of doing that to people. “Rita was the one who trusted you first. She stood up for you, just like I did. She told us all to trust you.”

With another small, careful stride, Piper was beside her at the window. Nora wasn’t sure if she wanted to back away or throw herself into Piper’s arms and sob. She wanted it to be over so badly.

“Please,” Piper whispered, her hands closing around Nora’s. The weight of her sidearm fell away as Piper’s fingers slipped between her own. It felt natural. Right. Warm and caring and part of another life Nora had thought was long gone. “Please come home.”

There was nothing in the world Nora wanted more. “I can’t.”

“You can,” Piper said. Nora heard the shift of her coat as she tucked Nora’s gun away. But Piper still held her own at her side. Ready. “You just have to come with me. We can just leave. No one else needs to get hurt.”

Nora, knowing she was wrong, hung her head, a sad smile crossing her face. “The Railroad will never let me leave.”

“The Railroad is gone,” Piper said, her voice pleading and her grip on Nora’s hand tightening. “There’s no one left. No Institute, no Railroad, no one. Just you and me. That’s what you want, isn’t it? We can start over. You can have your life back.”

She wanted to believe that. She really did. Nora shook her head. “I’m sorry, Piper. I can’t. I can’t come back.”

Piper’s breathing grew ragged. Nora saw tears begin to well up in the corners of her eyes. “No,” she hissed. “You have to come home. That was the deal. You and me and Nat. We’re going to be a family. I promised her, Nora. What am I going to tell her when she wakes up?”

“Tell her the truth,” Nora said, her fingers on one hand lacing with Piper’s while the other moved lower, finding the cold metal she knew so well. “Tell her I went to the Institute and never came back. Tell her they snatched me. She’ll like that, after all those times she told me to watch my back.”

“No,” Piper shook her head back and forth violently. “You can’t leave me alone. Not like this.”

“I’m not,” she murmured. “I’m leaving you with Nat. You were right, Piper. That’s what matters. I saved you. I saved Nat. That’s all I care about.”

“Well, that’s not all I care about!” Piper’s cheeks were gleaming now as she tried to squeeze the life from Nora’s hand. “You promised me you’d come back! Doesn’t that mean anything? I can’t lose you, not again. I can’t.”

Nora slowly pulled Piper’s hands toward her chest. She felt the firm and unyielding pressure of Piper’s gun against her ribs. She smiled at that. She had always known Piper would be the one to kill her. “Yes, you can. You have to. People need you, Piper. They’ve always needed you, even if they couldn’t see it. You have a life waiting for you.”

“Not without you,” Piper mumbled through her tears. Nora pushed the barrel a little harder against her ribs and started moving her fingers. Piper shook her head and tried to pull away but Nora held her firm. “Please. Please don’t.”

“It’s going to be okay, Piper,” Nora whispered.

Her fingers closed around the trigger. “It’s going to be okay.”


	28. Together

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Piper returns to Diamond City

Everything felt strangely out of touch as Piper wandered through Diamond City. She had spent so many years making this place her home and yet, in the course of a single day, she found herself completely out of place. There seemed to be more people on the streets and the bustle of the market created what should have been a pleasant hum in the background but none of it really sank in. The guards made small talk, the traders hawked their wares, and visitors tried in vain to make conversation with the strange, Japanese Protectron, all as Piper moved between them in silence. Again, she was a ghost. It was like the Institute all over again.

If any of the spoke to her, they kept their words short, their condolences expressed in as small a breath as possible. If any of them did more, Piper failed to notice. Her mind was elsewhere, and only her body plodded along to wherever it felt like going. The sight of old Publick issues tacked up on a nearby wall should have stirred nostalgia. Now she felt nothing, like someone else had written those articles.

She saw familiar faces in the crowd. Danny was having a discussion with Myrna, now sulking behind her screen of tin cans, and he looked ready to throw up his hands in defeat. She thought she saw Ellie strolling by, a bag on her shoulder with a Nuka Cola peeking from the back. Off to babysit Nick, probably. Arturo had cornered his daughter by his stall and was giving her a stern talking to. From the mud caking her dress, Piper should have been able to guess at what she had been doing.

She couldn’t. None of it really sank in. That might have been because of how surreal it all seemed. As Piper wound her way through the edge of the crowd, her boots scuffing at the dry dirt as she passed, she noticed how empty the street was. All the life started in the distant market just beyond her little road. Just beyond the Publick.

The sign above still buzzed with life, expressing a defiance its owner no longer felt. She had the sudden urge to shut it off and take a bat to the damn thing but even that seemed like too much effort. She just wanted to lie down for a month. Besides, without the sign, the street would be completely silent. There should be a little life in this corner of the world. The press had to go on.

The door creaked as Piper pushed her way in. “I’m home,” she said, her voice echoing in the empty room. No one answered, and the silence closed around her. She did not know what she had been expecting.

Inside, everything was just as she had left it. The couch, its pillows neatly stacked on one side, had gathered a thin layer of dust in her absence. She absently brushed at the cushions and tried in vain to see where Nora had lain that first night, the one where Piper had invited her in. It felt like years since she had first blurted out that Nora could spend the night with her and not a day went by that she didn’t wonder what had made her say it in the first place.

Her beloved printing press lay quiet in the corner, cold and seemingly unwilling to live again. It should have been stacked with new editions of the Publick. The Mayor was dead. Diamond City needed a leader, and more important than that, it needed its voice. People were scared. To them, the Institute was still out there, waiting to seize on the city’s weakness and put in place someone ever worse than McDonough. It was waiting in the shadows, ready to strike. That the kidnapping had stopped overnight seemed to be going unnoticed. The disappearances of a few people had still spooked them, no one suspecting that those vanishing were Synth infiltrators now heeding Rita’s call for a new world.

A new world. Piper should have been printing that up, too. Synths were no longer their enemy. The laws of the land had been rewritten, the natural order turned on its head overnight and there was no one to do it justice. No one was talking about it. There was just more fear, and from the one person who should have been guiding the city, there was only grief. Only silence.

Piper looked up toward her loft. It felt like an eternity since McDonough had surprised her at her terminal. That had been the worst day of her life. Natalie with a gun to her head. McDonough’s grin as Piper had given up, putting a gun to her own head, ready to take her life to save her sister. Nora would have understood. That was what she had told herself.

Now, her room was quiet. The stairs creaked under Piper’s boots as she climbed. This was still her home. No matter who was missing, no matter what had happened. Life had to go on.

She reached the top, and turned to face the bed.

“Still giving me the silent treatment?”

The pile of blankets rustled and, after a long moment, Nora’s face emerged from the jumble. “You shot me.”

Piper found enough energy to cock her head ever so slightly. “Was that not what you wanted?”

“I –“ Nora cut herself off, tired of fighting the same old fight.

She had wanted to kill herself. That was her comeback and both of them were grateful to ignore it. Piper, despite still wanting to beat Nora senseless for wanting to harm herself, now forced herself to smile. It wasn’t hard. She had Nora back, and that was more than enough to lighten her heart. “I know,” she murmured. “I’m sorry, too.”

Nora shifted in the blankets and tried to sit up against the pillows. She propped herself up on her arms, the covers falling around her to expose bared skin and a swathe of bandages across her chest. Piper resisted the urge to run to her. She had been doing that a lot recently. Babying Nora had become the order of the day.

She crossed the room, kicking off her boots and settling on the side of the bed, one hand coming to rest on Nora’s thigh. “Does it still hurt?”

“Not anymore,” Nora said, poking gently at where the bullet had passed under her ribs. “Still itches pretty bad, though.”

Piper had to smile at that. “Well, serves you right, doesn’t it?”

“Yeah,” Nora said quietly. “It does, I guess.”

The bullet should have killed her. Piper had given up in the wake of Nora’s protests and was so completely out of her head that she had nearly let Nora go through with it. She didn’t know what had made her do it, but she thanked God every waking moment she had flipped the safety. At the last moment, as Nora began to squeeze the trigger, Piper’s thumb almost accidentally twitched just enough to save Nora’s life. Nora had looked so confused. Piper hadn’t noticed at the time. In the moment it took for Nora to realize what had happened, Piper had recovered enough to be properly furious.

So she had looked Nora in the eye, yanked the gun away, thumbed the safety off again, and shot her in the side. She then spent the next ten minutes shouting at the yelping, bleeding Nora. Thinking about it still made her blood boil. The woman was just too damned bull-headed. Killing herself because she wanted to save Piper? She was lucky Piper hadn’t strangled the life out of her then and there. Instead, she settled for a severe tongue lashing and, when she had finished, a quick jab at Nora’s ribs with a Stimpack to keep her from complaining.

With Nora hoisted over her shoulder, Piper had marched straight back to the Relay, daring anyone she crossed to pick a fight Nora. No one did. The few Railroad Agents they saw seemed to weigh their odds, looking from Nora’s bloody clothes to the thoroughly pissed-off and red-eyed Piper before deciding justice had been done. It had taken the rest of the day, with Piper talking constantly to keep Nora conscious, but they had finally made it home.

The silence had stretched as Piper reminisced, and their smiles had fallen away. “You don’t still think about it, do you?” Piper asked quietly. “You’d tell me if you did.”

“I would. And I don’t,” Nora said just as quietly. “Not anymore. I still don’t know what to do. I can’t stop thinking about Shaun and… everyone else. I still think it would have been easier, but this is right. I can fix this. Right?”

Piper smiled and took Nora’s hand. “There’s nothing to fix, dollface. It’s all over, now. I think Des knew what she was signing up for long before she sent you into the Institute.” Nora had told her about their last conversation during one of their first nights back. It had not been a good night. But Piper had stayed with her, holding her as she wept and shook until she finally fell asleep. “And Glory would have understood. She was a soldier. Just like you.”

Nora shook her head. “I’m not a soldier, Piper. I wasn’t even fighting a war. I was just fighting to keep you safe. To keep everyone safe. I thought I could do it. After everything else, with the Brotherhood and Machson I thought I was invincible. I could do anything. And no one would get hurt. Then when Bunker Hill happened… everything happened so fast, I couldn’t…”

“It’s all right,” Piper hushed her, stroking her arm and humming. “It’s all right. You just rest. Once you’re back on your feet, we can start making things right again.”

A slow smile crept over Nora’s face. “The press never sleeps, does it?”

“Nope,” Piper said, bending down to kiss Nora’s forehead. “And neither will you. There’s a whole new world out there. New stories, new people –“

“New people to piss off,” Nora finished helpfully.

“That’s right,” Piper said, adjusting her cap. “So get some rest. I’ll be here, just on the terminal. We’ll have a night in. Noodles and Cola, and don’t tell me you’re sick of them. All right?”

“Sounds lovely,” Nora said with a smile of dubious sincerity. “But, uh, can you do me a favor? I hate to ask but –“

Of course Piper could guess what she was getting at. “You’re worried about Nat?”

Nora nodded. “I wanted to see her when we came back but we were, well... I just want to know she’s okay.”

“Me, too,” Piper said, patting Nora’s shoulder and standing. “It wasn’t your fault, what happened to her. You know that, right?”

“Yeah. I know,” Nora murmured, unconvinced but at least willing to listen and nod along.

Piper felt herself smiling warmly. She was still trying to convince Nora that the whole world hadn’t fallen apart because she let her son out of her arms during a nuclear holocaust. Baby steps, she told herself. “Okay, I’ll go pay Nat a visit for you. Doctor says she’ll be up and about soon. She’s supposed to be awake any day now and that means you’ll have both of us jumping on the bed until you’re sick of it.”

With one of her old grins, weary but plainly loving, Nora settled back in bed and began fiddling with her Pip Boy. The Nora that Piper had fallen in love with was in there. She was hurt, tired, and very nearly broken, but she was there, and Piper would do anything to bring her back. Piper trotted down the stairs to the opening strains of another Diamond City Radio classic that played her off stage and into the street. A pad of paper under one arm, she walked with head high into the medical clinic and plopped down in a chair beside Nat. She was looking so much better. It wouldn’t be long before she was back on her feet, terrorizing newcomers with tales of the Institute, no matter what Piper said about it being gone.

Piper opened her pad and began scribbling the lines to her next article. There was so much to do, and so much more that had already been done and needed to be put into print. The fall of the Institute, the new way of seeing Synths, the sacrifice of the Railroad for a better tomorrow. The world needed Diamond City, and now, Diamond City needed its paper.


	29. Brave New World

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Rita finds herself at the head of the Synth exodus with Ann right beside her and a new world to explore

Fresh air. The smell of it was intoxicating. For the first time, Rita could close her eyes and just breathe. The Institute was gone. They were free. She took a deep breath, letting the smell of hot dust and charred Cram fill her lungs. The Commonwealth was not a place of pleasant odors, but for right now, Rita absolutely loved every horrid one of them.

Behind her stretched the legions of free Synths that had escaped the Institute. Hundreds of them, most of whom had never seen the sun, now sat in the shade of an abandoned building on the edge of the Commonwealth. There were a few old hands. To Rita’s surprise, most of the Institute Synths had actually listened to her pleas. The third-generation Synths all seemed to want their freedom and, once it had been offered, had been willing to die by the hundreds to get it. Now it was up to her to make that sacrifice worth something.

The task was terrifying. With nothing less than the survival of her people at stake, Rita began to wonder if she should have handed the microphone to Ann. That way she could just keep following instead of being the voice of Synth freedom.

At least she was not alone. Beside her, Ann stared out into the wastes, one hand shielding her eyes against the sun. She was lovely in this light. Her jaw line accented by the light, she looked ready to take on the world. It was something Rita could stand to emulate. People looked to Rita for guidance, though she would be hard pressed to tell anyone exactly why that was, but she would always look to Ann for strength. She was a lucky girl.

There were others still. Against all odds, a few Coursers had actually joined the fight on the side of the Railroad. They stood alone far beyond the cluster of Synths they had once been charged with keeping in line. All alone even as the world changed around them, opening up to them with more possibilities than any of them had ever dreamed. It was a sad fate. A few of the Synths claimed to recognize them from the SRB. These were the Coursers specifically tasked to hunt down escaped Synths. Rita wondered, a shiver creeping up her spine, if any of them had been there when she had been Recalled.

Ann sighed and scrubbed one hand over her forehead. “Well, I don’t know about you, but I have no idea where we’re going.”

Rita giggled. “Doesn’t that Pip Boy have a map?”

“Yeah, which is great for telling us where we are. But, where we’re going,” she shook her arm, wiggling the device emphatically in Rita’s direction. “It’s really no help at all.”

“Well, where are we?” Rita asked, taking the flimsy excuse to sidle a bit closer to Ann.

Ann began playing with the Pip Boy as Rita carefully leaned up against Ann’s arm. She wanted to be close to her but Ann was still skittish. She didn’t want to scare her off. “We’re pretty far north. I haven’t been out this far before, so I really don’t know what to expect. It looks like there might be some shelter if we go a few more miles along the road.”

“Do you think there are Raiders out here?”

Ann actually laughed. “Oh, there are Raiders everywhere. And they’re not even the worst things up here. You’ll see. Road trips up here are just a joy.”

“Road trip?” Rita echoed, her voice rising with playful curiosity. “I’m not sure I know how what to do on one of those. Also, I don’t see a road for us to follow.”

One look at the ground proved her point. A few dozen yards beyond where they were standing, the road vanished beneath centuries of windblown dirt and tenacious tufts of grass. “Okay,” Ann shrugged. “Fair point. But we will need to find shelter somewhere. It’ll need to be pretty large, too.”

The two looked back toward the huddled masses. They looked determined. Scared, but determined to make it through the night. Rita had every intention of making that night as painless for them as possible and suddenly regretted her snap decision to abandon the Institute. They could have stayed there until the end of the world. But the gesture was born of necessity as much as symbolism. Fires had claimed much of the Institute and the Railroad had been determined to reduce it to nothing more than a smoking hole.

No, this was where they belonged. Or, rather, somewhere up here, if Rita could only find out where exactly that was. “We could try settling in here,” Rita said, not really meaning it. Despite the large buildings and large tracts of space, the Coursers with them had already killed their share of bandits and scavengers that had proved less than friendly.

Ann was shaking her head. “Too close to the other settlements. We need distance. That will give everyone time to accept that Synths aren’t just here to take them away and murder them in an alley.”

And then replace them and steal their family away from them. It went unsaid, but Ann still carried that guilt everywhere she went. That was another reason this had to succeed. Ann needed to forgive herself, to see that there was more to her life than hurting others, and Rita was determined to give her a chance to see that. She deserved to see herself the way Rita saw her.

So Rita watched as Ann scrolled around her little green map. “I don’t know,” she mumbled. “Maybe down south? Out here along the coast? Looks like only a few roads in or out. But someone’s got to be there already. Maybe…”

On and on they went. Rita watched and wondered. There had to be something. There was always something. At length, Ann put her arm down, shaking it out and sighing. “All right, we’ll keep going north for now. We’ll find something in the morning. Today, I just want a hot meal.”

They wandered back to the camp to find most of the Synths talking about much the same thing. Food was on everyone’s mind and no one seemed to have any idea how to get it. A few foragers had scrounged up some leavings in the surrounding buildings, giving them some way to keep from starving their first night out in the open. After a few minutes they were surprised to see a pair of Coursers dragging a dead Radstag back to camp. Rita made a note of who brought it in. They deserved better than to be kept at arm’s length.

As they ate and talked, Ann switched on her radio and began flipping through the stations. Diamond City Radio was always a popular choice and many of the Synths seemed fascinated by the fact that they could suddenly listen to the music as free people. Many took the opportunity to make their opinions heard, not all of them pleasant. When some horrible song about hackin’ and swackin’ came on, the Synths rebelled and Ann switched the station in order to avoid having her arm ripped off. Rita edged closer to her, protective in her fit of giggling. The Synths seemed delighted just to be able to like or dislike anything that came their way. She would not be surprised if they started up competing rock collections before the journey was over.

Ann found a classical station that Rita did her best to remember. It was too mellow for the current mood but she desperately wanted to listen to it tonight. She loved the way it sounded, both the music and the idea of curling up with Ann under the stars. She had been trying to do that for as long as she had been above ground.

Some time later, when the laughter had died down and Synths were beginning to wander around the ruins, Ann began nudging Rita’s arm. “Hey, listen to this.”

Rita leaned closer. The signal was faint so she found herself pressing her head against Ann’s arm to hear better. She found it a bit harder to focus when Ann leaned in beside her, her hair brushing against her neck and her breath tickling her cheek. Rita tried to shake the many pleasant thoughts from her head, storing them away somewhere private for her to leaf through later.

The radio crackled between them, oblivious to Rita’s tensions. The words were soft but she could make out some of them. Something about a Synth refuge. She caught a few names and places she didn’t recognize, but one stuck out.

Ann echoed the name. “Acadia?”

Rita looked up. “Have you heard of it?”

“No,” Ann looked back at her Pip Boy. “I guess it’s some kind of refuge. Somewhere called Far Harbor? Sounds perfect. An island in the middle of nowhere. We could make a home for ourselves, away from everyone. Safe.”

“Sure, but how do we get there?”

A few more clicks from her Pip Boy and Ann was zooming in on the coast. “Looks like… we’ll need a boat.” The woman looked back around the room. “Maybe more than one.”

Rita beamed as Ann’s gaze found her again. “I’ve always wanted to see the ocean.”

Ann swayed a bit closer, her voice teasing. “You like the idea? You and me, down at the beach?”

Her cheeks began to flush as Ann moved a bit closer and Rita found herself melting into the woman’s side. “I could get used to it. We need a vacation. You and me.”

The slightest hesitation stopped Ann as she leaned in. Rita saw it, and she heard all the doubts in Ann’s mind shouting in chorus. She deserved better than being trapped in the past. Someone really should do something about that.

So Rita leaned in, closing the last few inches between them, and kissed her. She felt Ann gasp and flinch and almost pull away, as though she were surprised at the soft touch of her lips when all she expected was the flash of teeth. For a moment, Rita thought she had moved too fast and was suddenly terrified that she had ruined the careful, patient dance she had tried so hard to master.

Then Ann’s hand slipped around her waist, her lips came back to meet Rita’s, and the rest of the world just melted away.

A long, long time later, Ann finally pulled away. She was smiling – really smiling – as she stammered and tried to catch her breath. “That was…”

Rita beamed. “A long time coming?”

Ann laughed. “Yes, yes it was. Thank you. For being patient. And for the kiss.”

“You earned it,” Rita settled happily against Ann’s chest, her head resting on her shoulder. “Saving all of us from the Institute was worth at least one. Maybe even two.”

“You’re a hard woman to please,” Ann sighed, kissing the top of Rita’s head.

“I’m sure you’ll figure it out,” Rita said, rolling over until she was looking into Ann’s eyes. “We’ve got plenty of time. Vacation on the beach, sailing to this Far Harbor, settling in at Acadia; I think it’s going to be a long road.”

Ann was still smiling. “Maybe, but at least the company’s all right.”

“All right?” Rita sputtered in mock indignation.

Ann made a show of thinking it over. “Yeah, all right,” she said, leaning down to give Rita another kiss. “Pretty good. I’d even say enjoyable.”

“You’d better,” Rita murmured as Ann took advantage of that second kiss she had earned, then helped herself to more without even asking. It was really a very rude thing to do.

But Rita let it slide. Ann, more than anyone else, had earned a little charity from Rita. She had gone through so much, not just for Rita but for every Synth. None of them would be here without her, and if that meant Rita had to put up with her on this road trip thing, then that was a price she was willing to pay. They were going to be travelling together for a long time, after all. There was a new world waiting for them across the water, and for the first time, Synths were going to be a part of it.


	30. Epilogue: Nothing Ever Changes

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Nora and Piper set out on a new adventure

Nora’s radio hissed and complained, buzzing with static as she flipped through the stations. Diamond City may have been saved but its radio station was not exactly broadcasting its gratitude. Someone really needed to get rid of that butcher song, though Nora had to admit the name was a perfect fit. It butchered her ears every time she heard it.

From her seat at the Noodle Bar, Nora watched as the denizens of the Great Green Jewel went about their daily lives and thought about how strange it was that nothing seemed to have changed. Perhaps it was obvious. No matter how dire things got or how many of their neighbors disappeared, they still needed to eat. In a place like this, someone getting gobbled up by a giant lizard was commonplace, and your neighbor going missing just meant getting to their belongings before the scavengers picked it clean. It made a woman hard just thinking about, and every day seemed to put a sharper edge on every soul in the city.

Nora spooned another pile of noodles toward her mouth. She should have realized sooner that nothing had changed for the people here. Even if death was commonplace, there had been remarkably little inside the city walls. Rumors of that ridiculous Brotherhood blimp going down had only just begun to circulate. More pressing was the talk of the Institute. Someone down there had finally lost their minds, blowing themselves up and carving a massive hole in the Commonwealth somewhere far away. There was also something about a Railroad, but no one was quite sure if they meant the secretive, underground rebels, or an actual trainload of nuclear bombs. Everyone had their opinion, but they could all agree on one thing; they were glad it had not happened here.

What had everyone worried was the Mayor. Piper had been right all along. The Publick had exposed him and, when he had tried to do in the plucky journalist, he had gotten a bullet for his trouble. But not before turning his gun on little Natalie. That was what had doomed him. Nora chewed her noodles and smirked up at the empty press box where the Mayor had once lived. Poor guy never stood a chance. If he had just shot Piper, the guards would probably have thrown a parade for him, but no, he had gone after the good sister. For a moment, Nora imagined the common folk spitting on his grave, then realized she had never actually heard of him being buried. Commonwealth justice was efficient, among other things, and she put the question from her mind. She had known enough horrible truths in her lifetime. She did not need one more.

Nora turned toward the sound of Piper’s voice as it carried across the market, her smirk turning to a smile. She had wasted no time in printing her next edition of the Publick. A hopeful, heartwarming, and honestly inspiring piece about the indomitable people of Diamond City. The Mayor had fallen, yet they remained. The article had the effect of a blood transfusion. People were happier. They stopped packing their bags to leave and started asking the important questions. Who was in charge now? How were they even supposed to figure that out? Was the Mayor alone? And where had Piper been for the last month?

The last was hard to answer. There had been no war here, and people were reluctant to accept that one had gone on at all. Piper had taken on the Institute? Alone? No, of course not, it was worse. She had freed the Synths to do it. They were out and about and no one knew what they looked like. Of course they were evil, how could they be good? Synths were chrome-plated murder machines. They didn’t have red hair and sparkling blue eyes. They didn’t want peace.

The more Nora thought about it, the more she agreed with Rita. People needed time. They needed to see Synths as their own beings with their own freedoms, and forgetting about the Institute would take time. It was certainly taking them long enough to acknowledge something had happened in the first place.

So Nora watched, sighing with content, as Piper sewed the streets with chaos and bad ideas. She was in a heated debate with some poor slob in a tattered brown coat, the kind of person that, a few hundred years ago, Nora would have called a vagrant. The title meant little now since so few people now paid their rent, but from the way he was dressed, he was really just missing the brown bag of booze. The man was shaking his head and backing away from crazy woman and her flying hands. He knew the truth. Synths were evil. Piper had printed a nice article a few weeks ago. Why couldn’t she go back to that?

Another familiar voice joined in from behind her. Nora, unable to help herself, turned away to find the only person who could distract her from Piper. Nat was outside the Publick Occurrences building, a stack of papers by her side and a dozen victims shuffling in front of her. Piper had been right. Nat did not believe the Institute was gone, and if she did, she kept it to herself, preferring to scare newcomers with the same tales she had told Nora all those years ago. Whatever the Mayor had done to her, it hadn’t affected her in the slightest. Her lungs were just fine and her mind was still sharper than any of those now gathering in front of her.

It was just another reason Nora needed to keep going. She had a family again. Piper had pulled her from the ragged edge, from a place where nothing was worth trying and death was her only option. She had been ready to kill herself because she couldn’t see the way out. Piper had shown it to her, and Nora owed her everything for that.

Of course, she had done it by shooting Nora in the chest, but that was beside the point.

Nora turned back toward Piper in time to see her throw up her hands in defeat as man she had been talking to stormed off. As Piper glared at his back and began stomping back toward the noodle bar, Nora heard herself laughing. “Nothing ever changes, does it?”

“It would if people just paid attention,” Piper snapped as she flopped on to the stool beside Nora. “But no, fear the Synths, they’re coming to get you!”

Nora nodded along as she finished her lunch. A steaming bowl appeared unsolicited in front of Piper, making Nora wonder if Takagashi wanted her to eat and feel better or just put something in her mouth so she stopped scaring off his customers. “Nat seems to be enjoying things.”

Piper stopped her rant and looked over her shoulder with a fond smile, her voice softening instantly. “Yeah, she is. It probably doesn’t help that my own sister is terrifying people from the moment they get here, but she means well. Probably.”

Nora was not about to argue. The girl had earned it. She spooned another heap of noodles toward her lips and repeated the word. “Probably.”

As Piper turned back to the bar, someone new had spotted her. A man – no, a Synth – wearing a trench coat and beat-up old hat sauntered through the market, making a beeline for Piper. Nora nudged her. “Who’s this guy?”

Noodles dripping from her chin, Piper looked up and grinned. “Nick! Where have you been? Oh, wow, uh, what happened to you? You look terrible.”

The Synth chortled as he reached the bar. “You always know just what to say. I’ll give you the full story sometime soon, but right now I think you and I should talk. I’ve got something I’ve been working on, maybe you can help me out with it.”

“New case?” Piper asked eagerly, scooting to the edge of her seat.

Nora listened in for a moment as Nick meandered his way through an explanation. She soon found herself playing with her Pip Boy, unable to make herself care about the big picture. That wasn’t right. She did care. And even if she didn’t, Piper did, and she cared about Piper enough to pretend like she did. That was how this was supposed to end, wasn’t it? Piper had saved the world. She had saved Nora from herself and given everyone hope for a new day.

Her fingers moved on their own. Nora turned the dial to the old, familiar station she had listened to so long ago. Static crackled through the speakers as, for the first time in what felt like years, Nora searched for distress signals. This was what she was good at. She helped people in the Wasteland, just like Piper helped them here.

As Nora flipped to another channel, a voice broke through the static. “This is an emergency broadcast. Our caravan is under attack by hostile robots.”

Nora blinked, staring at the Pip Boy. Already? She looked up at Piper but she was still engrossed in her conversation with Nick. The message gave the caravan’s location and paused for a moment. “If anyone in the vicinity can come help, now is the time.”

The message repeated a moment later. Nora’s eyes remained fixed on the screen, her elbows stuck to the bar. She had to decide. Who was she? Was she still the woman that went out into the wastes, never saying goodbye when she left? Was she Shaun’s mother, the woman who had abandoned her son and wanted nothing more than for this nightmare to end?

Piper’s hand on her arm jolted her back to the moment. “Hey, everything okay, Blue? You look a little…” she waggled her fingers and smiled, as though that was supposed to explain everything.

Nora shut off the radio. She was not the woman who left without saying goodbye. Not anymore. “Just fine,” she said, lifting herself off the stool.

Grasping Piper’s hand with her own, she leaned down to pick up her rifle from where it sat beside the bar. No, she was not the woman who left without saying goodbye, but neither was she the woman who gave up and let the world fall to ruin. She was someone new, and she would just have to figure out what that meant on her own. “Did you hear that?”

“No, what’s up?” Piper stood, grabbing her noodles as Nora grabbed her rifle. What a pair they made.

“Some caravan’s being attacked by angry robots,” Nora said as she slung her rifle over her shoulder. “It’s about time I got back out there, don’t you think?”

Piper beamed. “Yeah, I think so,” she turned back to Nick. “That new case –“

“It’ll be here when you get back,” the man said as he eyed Nora. “Be careful out there. The Wasteland is a dangerous place at the best of times.”

Piper looked back at Nora, still holding her noodles in front of her. “You heard the man, Blue. Let’s go make it a little less dangerous.”

As she began marching toward the gate, Nora could not keep herself from laughing. “And where are you going with that?”

“Can’t fight evil on an empty stomach!” Piper declared, her stride never slowing. “Besides. I know you’ve got my back.”

Nora shook her head, a fond smile stealing over her face. Nothing ever changed. Her life with Nate and Shaun had been perfect and, in the space of a single breath, it had all been stolen away, but now she had it back. She had a family. She had a home. She had a life she wouldn’t trade for anything in the world, not even the one she’d had before.

“Always,” Nora said softly, then let out a theatrical sigh. “Fine. But no detours. These people need our help.”

“Detours? Me? You don’t know me at all,” Piper said huffily. “I don’t take detours. I take shortcuts. And we need to get there quickly, so, just up this street…”

THE END

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you all so much for reading. I hope you enjoyed the story as much as I enjoyed telling it. I can't tell you how much I appreciate the comments, kudos, questions, and criticisms that I've gotten while writing. You've made this a great experience and I really appreciate all the time you've spent following along as Piper dragged Nora all over the Commonwealth. Of course, she isn't quite done with our Sole Survivor, but those are stories for another time.
> 
> I'd also like to say thanks to my betas, all three (I think?) of you that I've pestered, driven off, and begged back. You're lovely people. Thanks so much for slogging through my work and correcting my grammar.
> 
> As always, I welcome any comments both here and on Tumblr. Again, thank you so much and I hope you enjoyed Papergirl.


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